BX  4810  . D6 9  1923 
Dowding,  Henry  Wallace. 
The  Protestantism  of 
tomorrow 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/protestantismoftOOdowd 


THE  PROTESTANTISM 

OF 


TO-MORROW 


Copyright  1923 


SECOND  EDITION 


J  P.  BELL  COMPANY,  Inc. 
Lynchburg,  Va. 


Protestantism 

of 

Tomorrow 


By 

HENRY  WALLACE 'DOWD ING,  D.D. 

AUTHOR  OF 


“The  Man  From  Mars” 

“A  Life  of  Phillips  Brooks” 
“Memoirs  of  Charles  H.  Spurgeon” 

Etc. 


The  American  Book  Concern 

NORFOLK,  VIRGINIA 


DEDICATED  TO  THE  MEMORY 

OF 

PHILLIPS  BROOKS 


BECAUSE  I  came  under  the  magic  spell  of 
his  preaching  and  personality  and  was  fortu¬ 
nate  in  enjoying  the  balmy  atmosphere  which 
his  friendship  created,  I  have  dedicated  the 
following  pages  to  his  memory. 

If,  as  it  is  believed,  he  occupied  the  fore¬ 
most  place  among  the  preachers  of  his  gen¬ 
eration,  physically,  mentally  and  morally,  he 
was  the  greatest  MAN  OF  HIS  TIME,  with 
a  breadth  of  vision,  a  knowledge  of  human 
nature,  and  a  quality  of  charity  rarely  matched 
in  any  age. 

Remembered  for  what  he  did,  immortalized 
by  what  he  said,  for  generations  to  come  he 
will  be  venerated  and  loved  for  WHAT  HE 
WAS. 

He  had  caught  the  vision  of  a  UNITED 
CHRISTENDOM,  he  believed  in  it, 
preached  about  it,  longed  for  it  with  an  intense 
desire,  and  embodied  in  a  life  free  from  even 
the  thought  of  prejudice  and  bigotry  the  Great 
Truths  which  his  lips  so  often  expressed. 

— H.  W.  D. 


FOREWORD 


We  are  constantly  being  reminded  that  we 
live  in  the  most  materialistic  age  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  If  this  is  true,  and  it  would 
seem  from  observation  that  it  must  be,  it  re¬ 
flects  no  great  credit  upon  THE  CHURCH 
as  a  controlling  factor  in  human  events. 

For  nearly  two  thousand  years  the  eye  of 
the  world  has  been  focused  upon  the  teachings 
of  the  “MAN  OF  GALLILEE”  in  faith, 
expectation  and  hope.  It  cannot  be  said  that 
these  teachings  are  false,  or  that  when  divinely 
used,  they  have  failed.  Yet,  confronting  the 
staggering  events  of  recent  years  and  the 
world-wide  problems  they  have  presented, 
these  teachings  would  seem  to  have  lost  much 
of  their  ancient  power. 

Personally,  I  join  with  millions  of  my  fel¬ 
lows  who  feel  that  the  failure  does  not  lie  with 
THE  TRUTH,  but  with  the  organizations, 
methods  and  means  by  which  the  truth  is  be¬ 
ing  dispensed. 

To  call  attention  once  more  to  these  sources 
of  weakness  is  the  object  of  these  lines. 

— H.  W.  D. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Page 

I.  A  Brief  Survey  of  the  Protestant 

Reformation  _  1 

II.  The  Position  of  Protestantism  Today-  11 

III.  The  Inside  of  the  Cup -  39 

IV.  We  Know  the  Disease.  What  is  the 

Cure  ?  _  67 

V.  How  Can  We  Secure  the  Kind  of  Unity 

We  Need?  _  95 

VI.  The  World  is  Ready  for  the  New 

Departure  _ - _ 107 

VII.  What  Christian  Unity  has  Already 

Accomplished  _  123 

VIII.  The  Greatest  Question  of  Our  Age,  Can 

We  All  Get  Together? _  137 

IX.  The  Christ  We  H  ave  Known _ __  149 

X.  The  Supreme  Test  of  Christianity  and 

Anglo-Saxon  Responsibility _  161 

XI.  The  Church  Must  Return,  But  To 

What  ? _  181 

XII.  What  the  Church  Does  with  Christ 

Will  Determine  what  God  Will  Do 
with  the  Church _  199 

XIII.  Will  Protestantism  be  Overthrown? _  209 

XIV.  A  Dream  that  May  Come  True _  221 

XV.  Ministers  Who  are  Engaged  in  Over¬ 
throwing  Protestantism _  229 

XVI.  Spiritual  Unity _ - _ _ _  241 

XVII.  What  the  Members  of  the  Body  of 

Christ  Profess  to  Believe _  249 

A  List  of  the  Denominations  and 
Churches  Representing  Christianity 
in  the  United  States _  267 


CHAPTER  I 

A  BRIEF  SURVEY 

OF  THE 


PROTESTANT  REFORMATION 


PROTESTANTISM 


THE  great  central  figure  in  Protestantism 
is  Luther.  His  personality  stands  out  in 
gigantic  proportions  in  the  midst  of  what 
is  now  known  as  the  Reformation.  But,  in  fix¬ 
ing  our  minds  upon  him,  we  must  not  overlook 
others  in  large  numbers  led  by  Savonarola  in 
Italy,  Huss  and  Jerome  in  Bohemia,  Eras¬ 
mus  in  Holland,  and  Wycliff  in  England,  who 
blazed  the  trail  and  prepared  the  way  for  the 
greatest  event  of  modern  times.  It  was  these 
men  who  first  lifted  up  their  voices  against 
Papal  despotism,  fraud,  corruption,  penance, 
indulgences  and  sin  upon  which  the  prestige 
of  Rome  was  then  said  to  rest.  The  list  of 
crimes  and  follies  laid  at  the  door  of  the 
Papacy  is  too  long  to  be  mentioned  here,  but 
at  the  time  they  were  thought  of  sufficient  im¬ 
portance  to  become  a  reason  for  reform  and  a 
justification  of  the  birth  of  Protestantism. 

Luther  was  of  very  obscure  and  humble 
origin,  born  in  Eisleben,  November  10th, 
1483.  As  a  boy  he  displayed  religious  ten¬ 
dencies  and  went  from  house  to  house  singing 
hymns,  and  at  school  he  earned  his  living 
by  his  songs.  He  never  became  a  polished 
man  nor  was  he  as  great  a  scholar  as  Erasmus ; 
he  was  said  to  be  rude,  and  even  coarse;  he 


3 


was  bold  and  courageous,  but  lacked  humility. 
He  had  no  taste  for  philosophy  and  was,  it  is 
said,  too  narrow  to  read  Plato. 

Like  all  his  fellow  monks,  Luther  was  free 
to  read  the  Bible.  It  was  during  this  agree¬ 
able  occupation  that  he  read  the  epistles  writ¬ 
ten  by  Paul  and  from  them  extracted  the  por¬ 
tions  which  dealt  with  F aitli  as  the  gift  of  God, 
the  inefficiency  of  good  works,  and  Salvation 
as  another  of  God’s  free  gifts.  These  ideas 
were  his  emancipation.  He  lined  up  mentally 
with  St.  Augustine,  became  a  professor  of 
divinity  in  the  University  at  Wittenburg  and 
was  popular  as  a  preacher.  The  people 
seemed  to  love  Luther  and  fear  the  monks. 
He  was  still  a  good  Catholic. 

About  this  time  Pope  Leo  X  was  squander¬ 
ing  his  vast  revenues  in  pleasure  and  pomp. 
He,  however,  wanted  to  complete  St.  Peters, 
the  crowning  glory  of  magnificence.  A  great 
drive  was  organized  for  the  selling  of  in¬ 
dulgences.  Luther  protested,  “Only  God  can 
forgive  sins.”  The  people,  however,  felt  that 
they  all  had  souls  to  be  saved  and  this  thought 
ruled  laity  and  priest,  so  indulgences  were 
bought  and  sold. 

The  profane  have  gone  so  far  as  to  say  that 
Protestantism  grew  out  of  Martin  Luther’s 
desire  to  marry  one  Catherine  Bora,  others 


4 


have  avowed  that  it  did  not  spring  from 
spiritual  desires  and  aspirations  but  was  a  mere 
revolt  from  Rome  resolving  itself  into  a  war 
against  Papal  corruption  and  a  PROTEST 
against  the  recognized  usages  and  weaknesses 
of  a  crumbling  heirarchy.  But,  when  we  fol¬ 
low  the  course  of  this  conflagration  which  il¬ 
lumined  the  sixteenth  century  with  funeral 
pyres  and  filled  the  air  with  the  songs 
of  martvred  saints,  this  system  elaborated  by 
Calvin,  entering  like  iron  into  the  souls  of 
men,  producing  a  race  of  men  like  the 
Puritans  which  gave  the  world  a  new  the¬ 
ology,  we  are  compelled  to  admit  that  it  sprung 
out  of  a  religious  enthusiasm  for  some  new 
doctrine.  That  doctrine  was  contained  in 
Luther’s  declaration  that  THE  JUST 
SHALL  LIVE  BY  FAITH,  and  this  is  the 
first  idea  which  gave  birth  to  and  fashioned 
Protestantism. 

But  this  first  “new  thought"  led  to  another 
which  struck  at  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
supremacy  of  the  Pope.  The  Universities 
took  up  the  controversy  because  it  was  vital 
to  the  existence  of  Rome  as  a  ruling  power  and 
because  of  its  far-reaching  importance.  The 
greatest  doctors  and  advocates  were  retained 
to  champion  the  cause  of  the  church,  to  oppose 
every  protest  and  defeat  every  argument  ad- 


vanced  by  Luther.  Therefore,  he  seemed  to 
have  displayed  more  genius  than  learning  for 
he  swept  aside  every  argument  and  took  his 
stand  upon  Scripture,  or  that  interpretation  of 
Scripture  which  had  become  the  habit  of  his 
mind,  and  he  denied  the  authority  of  Popes, 
councils  and  universities.  This  established 
for  the  reformers  at  least,  another  great  idea — 
the  supreme  authority  of  the  Scriptures. 
This  principle  Protestants  have  always  pro¬ 
fessed  to  believe,  yet  in  spite  of  this  fact  they 
have  quarreled  over  the  meaning  of  texts  and 
have  provided  a  fruitful  source  of  discord 
which  has  resulted  in  the  existence  of  various 
sects  and  denominations. 

This  great  victory  which  occurred  at  Leipsic 
was  regarded  as  a  terrible  blow  and  the  Cath¬ 
olics  rallied  to  meet  it  by  accepting  the  de¬ 
cision.  It  was  soon  modified  however  by  the 
contention  that  the  Bible  contained  difficul¬ 
ties,  obscure  texts  and  even  contradictory 
statements,  that  to  the  ignorant  it  was  a  sealed 
book.  It  was  claimed  that  only  the  learned 
could  interpret  Scripture  and  as  the  learned 
of  those  times  were  in  the  Church,  therefore, 
the  right  of  interpretation  remained  with  the 
Clergy. 

At  this  momentous  stage  Luther  surpassed 
himself  in  his  powers  of  reason,  “What!’5 


6 


said  he,  “keep  the  light  from  the  people? 
Take  away  their  guide  to  Heaven?  Besides, 
your  authorities  differ;  your  Popes  and  Coun¬ 
cils  disagree.  No,  I  say,  let  the  Scriptures 
be  put  in  the  hands  of  everybody!”  Then 
the  third  great  idea  took  possession  of  men’s 
minds — “the  right  of  private  judgment” — 
and  the  three  ideas  together  constituted  what 
has  been  called  “Religious  Liberty.”  It  may 
be  noted  here  that  the  idea  of  private  judg¬ 
ment  in  its  broad  application  to  religious 
truth  is  the  principal  thing  which  separates 
Catholics  from  Protestants.  This  so  called 
“Charter  of  Human  Liberties”  was  fought  for 
at  Leipsic  by  Gustavus  Adolphus;  at  Ivry  by 
Henry  IV.  It  caused  most  of  the  martyr¬ 
doms  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen¬ 
turies.  This,  it  is  claimed,  made  Luther  the 
idol  of  half  of  Europe,  the  oracle  of  Germany, 
the  mortal  enemv  of  Rome,  and  was  the  cause 
of  the  hatred  which  has  existed  between  Cath¬ 
olics  and  Protestants  for  four  hundred  years. 

The  reader  is  no  doubt  familiar  with  the 
closing  scenes  of  Luther’s  life.  We  will  only 
glance  at  one  event.  He  was  summoned  be¬ 
fore  the  Diet  of  the  Empire  at  Worms,  where 
the  Emperor  Charles  V  presided.  Painters 
and  poets  have  vied  with  each  other  in  de¬ 
scribing  this  scene.  We  all  recall  his  words  of 


7 


appeal:  “Unless  you  confront  me  with  argu¬ 
ments  drawn  from  Scripture,  I  cannot  and 
will  not  recant  anything — Here  I  stand,  I  can¬ 
not  do  otherwise.  God  help  me!  Amen.” 

His  most  ardent  admirers  and  loyal  sup¬ 
porters  admit  that  his  great  personality  and 
work  was  marred  by  human  weaknesses  and 
mistakes,  common  to  humanity;  that  he  him¬ 
self  afterwards  became  a  sort  of  Protestant 
Pope  to  whom  people  looked  for  authoritative 
opinions,  advice  and  consolation.  If  this  great 
leader  of  men  could  have  projected  his  life  and 
activities  into  the  present  age,  could  look  about 
him  and  see  the  mistakes  into  which  millions 
of  his  followers  have  fallen  and  the  chaotic 
conditions  which  have  arisen  from  a  misuse  of 
the  reforms  he  started,  he  MIGHT  be  moved 
to  weep  over  the  city  of  his  dreams,  and  seek 
to  overthrow  much  which  in  the  name  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation  the  churches  have 
built  up. 


8 


HAS  THE  DREAM  OF  LUTHER  AND 
HIS  FRIENDS  BEEN  REALIZED? 


Did  the  founders  of  this  new 

ORDER  FORSAKE  THEIR  MOTHER 
CHURCH,  DIE  AT  THE  STAKE,  SUFFER 
ON  THE  RACK,  LAY  DOWN  THEIR 
LIVES  TO  PRODUCE  THE  CONDITIONS 
AND  ESTABLISH  THE  PROTESTANT¬ 
ISM  OF  THE  TWENTIETH  CENTURY? 
WAS  IT  THEIR  AIM  TO  DIVIDE  THE 
CHURCH  INTO  HUNDREDS  OF  PARTS, 
WITH  AS  MANY  DIFFERENT  SHADES 
OF  BELIEF?  DID  THEY  INTEND  THAT 
THESE  DIVISIONS  SHOULD  BECOME 
RIVALS?  THAT  THERE  SHOULD  BE 
UNITS  OF  AUTHORITY  AND  POWER 
WITHOUT  CENTRALIZED  AUTHORITY 
AND  LEADERSHIP? 

WOULD  NOT  LUTHER,  WERE  HE  HERE, 
AGAIN  PROTEST  AGAINST  THE  WEAK¬ 
NESS  AND  INEFFICIENCY  OF  THE 
CHURCH  WHICH  IS  THE  OUTGROWTH 
OF  HIS  REFORM? 

These  are  questions  that  every 

PROTESTANT  SHOULD  FACE  FOR  THE 
GOOD  OF  SOCIETY  AND  THE  RE¬ 
DEMPTION  OF  THE  RACE. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  POSITION  OF 
PROTESTANTISM  TO-DAY 


THE  POSITION  OF  PROTESTANT¬ 
ISM  TO-DAY 


After  f  our  hundred  years  of  struggle 
into  which  have  been  poured  a  wealth 
of  thought,  money  and  personal  suffer¬ 
ing,  the  position  of  Protestantism  in  the  world 
is  not  reassuring  to  those  who  take  a  broad 
outlook  upon  the  progress  of  mankind. 

To  the  casual  observer  who  is  content  to 
know  that  conditions  are  not  what  they 
should  be,  who  does  not  comprehend  why 
they  are  as  they  are,  it  might  seem  an  easy 
task  to  bring  about  harmony  out  of  discord 
and  order  out  of  chaos.  If  the  obstacles  in 
our  path  were  of  yesterday,  the  change  might 
be  easy;  but,  when,  as  the  student  of  church 
history  knows,  these  barriers  to  progress  have 
been  raised  at  different  periods  for  nineteen 
hundred  years,  the  problem  becomes  involved. 

We  learn,  for  instance,  that  the  members  of 
the  early  church  were  all  Jews.  Their  accept¬ 
ance  of  the  Christian  faith  was  conditioned 
upon  their  carrying  forward  with  it  all  or 
many  of  their  J ewish  traditions  and  the  habits 
of  the  Israelites  and  with  these  their  practices 
of  ceremonial  rites,  just  as  to-day  Protestants 
are  retaining  prejudices  and  customs  entirely 
foreign  to  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Hence,  the 


13 


divisions  mentioned  and  deplored  in  the  writ¬ 
ings  of  the  apostles. 

Then,  there  appeared  upon  the  scene  the 
renowned  apostle  to  the  Gentiles,  Paul,  whose 
vision  and  conversion  gave  Christianity  its  first 
great  forward  movement  and  whose  subsequent 
missionary  journeys  gave  the  early  church  the 
first  world-wide  conception  of  the  Kingdom. 
When  he  reached  Asia  Minor  he  found  the 
Greeks  ready  to  accept  the  new  gospel  to 
which  they,  in  turn,  gave  the  distinct  touch 
of  their  national  life  and  history,  so  that  it 
again  differed  from  the  outward  aspect  it  had 
assumed  under  Jewish  patronage. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  troubles  which 
culminated  in  complete  separation  in  many 
cases  and  in  a  wide  divergence  of  opinion  and 
activity  in  others.  It  was  for  this  reason  that 
the  great  and  learned  Paul  wrote  the  epistles 
or  letters  to  the  churches  by  which  he  sought 
to  weld  together  the  various  parts  and  to  do 
for  early  Christianity  what  Federation  seeks 
to  do  for  the  churches  to-day. 

The  Greeks  whose  conception  of  Christianity 
may  be  said  to  have  been  democratic,  brought 
this  influence  to  bear  upon  their  religious 
belief  and  government,  until  at  last  they  were 
confronted  by  the  great  strength  of  the 
Romans  whose  ideas  of  everything  were  im- 


14 


perialistic.  Then,  arose  the  Greek  Orthodox 
church  distinct  from  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  between  which  a  wide  breach  has  al¬ 
ways  existed. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  disagreements  and 
divergence  of  church  history  have  nearly 
always  arisen  out  of  national  differences,  dis¬ 
tinctions  of  ideals ;  whereas,  in  consonance 
with  the  teachings  of  Christ,  Christianity  was 
designed  to  bring  the  human  race  into  one 
great  brotherhood.  It  will  be  admitted  how¬ 
ever  that  there  can  be  nothing  in  the  nature 
of  the  Christian  religion  to  justify  such  results 
unless  it  is  to  be  found  in  the  dismembered  con¬ 
dition  of  its  own  ranks. 

The  world  will  always  be  willing  to  accord 
to  Martin  Luther  the  place  of  high  honor  he 
merits  in  ecclesiastical  history;  but,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  he  was  also  influenced  by 
national  conditions  and  considerations  and 
that  Protestantism  played  a  very  important 
part  in  the  affairs  of  state  for  a  long  period 
after  the  dawn  of  the  Reformation. 

What  is  known  as  religious  liberty  and  the 
right  of  personal  interpretation  of  the  Script¬ 
ures  blossomed  forth  in  their  full  meaning 
when  America  opened  up  its  vast  territory  as 
an  asylum  for  those  who,  feeling  the  need  of 


15 


greater  freedom  in  matters  of  religion,  emi¬ 
grated  to  this  country  to  establish  themselves 
in  a  place  where  church  and  state  would  be 
separate  and  distinct  in  operation  and  in  fact. 

Here  they  found  every  condition  favorable 
to  their  desire;  so  that,  from  the  religious  soil 
of  America  has  sprung  up  every  variety  of 
religious  belief  known  to  the  world  and 
sectarianism  has  ripened  into  denominations 
before  unknown. 

There  are  approximately  200,000,000  Prot¬ 
estants  in  the  world,  400,000,000  Catholics  or 
600,000,000  Christians  of  all  kinds,  while 
non  -  Christian  population  is  1,200,000,000. 
So  that  in  order  to  survive,  Protestantism  must, 
at  least,  keep  pace  with  twice  its  number  in 
the  Catholic  church  and  overcome  the  indif¬ 
ference  of  six  times  its  number  of  non- 
Christians.  Taking  into  consideration  the 
vast  army  of  merely  nominal  believers  in 
Catholicism  and  Protestantism,  it  will  appear 
that  only  one  in  ten  of  the  population  of  the 
world  are  in  vital  relations  to  religious  life 
or  service. 

The  reader  will  observe  that  in  point  of 
numbers  the  Protestant  faith  is  amazingly 
weak  but  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  is  al¬ 
most  staggering  when  we  consider  that  it  has 
taken  nearly  two  thousand  years  of  ceaseless 


16 


preaching,  practice  and  persecution  to  produce 
a  condition  of  religious  life  by  no  means 
flattering  to  this  modern  age. 

This  is  an  age  of  unforeseen  events,  great  re¬ 
forms,  when  gigantic  problems  are  rolled  into 
the  presence  of  men  who  often  find  themselves 
unable  to  solve  them,  in  which  we  have  dis¬ 
covered  that  the  vast  interests  of  nations  are 
interlocked  by  combinations  of  events  which 
call  for  earnest  and  constant  study.  We  used 
to  be  content  to  think  that  “no  man  liveth 
to  himself”;  now,  we  are  forced  to  admit  also 
that  no  nation  can  conduct  its  affairs  regard¬ 
less  of  other  nations.  Isolation  and  indepen¬ 
dence  of  action  are  no  longer  possible  in  a 
world  like  ours;  and  yet,  the  church,  repre¬ 
sented  by  various  sects  which  should  be  the 
first  to  profit  by  this  fact,  is  the  last  to  adopt 
the  principal  of  vital  and  general  cooperation. 

If  our  temporal  leaders  and  statesmen  feel 
the  keen  necessity  of  cooperation  in  grappling 
with  problems  bearing  upon  the  future  prog¬ 
ress  and  peace  of  the  world  as  a  whole,  if 
human  endeavor  is  being  directed  toward  the 
realization  of  a  far-off  dream  of  world  ideal¬ 
ism,  and  to  this  auspicious  end  we  are  trying 
to  readjust  human  relations  the  world  over; 
then,  it  is  surely  time  that  Protestantism  should 
take  stock  of  its  resources  and  open  its  eyes  to 


17 


THE  POSSIBILITY  OF  FAILURE 

If  Protestantism  continues  for  another  two 
hundred  years  in  the  same  direction  in  which 
it  is  now  going  it  will  be  compelled  to  sit  at 
the  feet  of  a  rediscovered  Christ  and  learn 
again  the  alphabet  of  those  fundamental  truths 
for  which  its  Fathers  lived  and  its  Martyrs 
died.  This  may  be  regarded  by  many  as  a 
sweeping  statement,  and  such  a  claim  should 
not  be  made  without  an  attempt,  at  least,  to 
prove  it. 

LACK  OF  CENTRAL  ORGANIZATION  AND 

UNITY 

During  the  great  War  and  after  its  close, 
Protestants  of  every  shade  dreamed  a  wonder¬ 
ful  dream  and  saw  a  great  vision  of  a  Church 
purged  by  sacrifice  and  blood.  The  pulpits 
and  press  alike  sounded  a  note  of  common- 
sense  evangelism  which  was  to  unite  the 
churches  and  cause  multitudes  to  flock  to  them. 
Gradually,  however,  this  note  died  away  into 
a  tone  of  materialism  unparalleled  in  church 
history,  expressing  itself  in  “drives  for  mil¬ 
lions,”  filling  of  coffers,  and  making  demands 
upon  church  members  which  placed  a  mortgage 
upon  the  earnings  of  its  loyal  supporters  for 
years  to  come.  And,  what  are  the  net  results 


18 


of  all  this?  Certainly  it  cannot  be  claimed 
that  it  has  brought  the  man  of  the  world  into 
closer  relations  with  the  Church. 

But  what  prompted  or  permitted  such  a 
delusion?  Why  did  the  Church  do,  and  with 
a  vengeance,  the  very  thing  which  the  world 
has  been  guilty  of  doing  and  for  which  we  have 
so  justly  condemned  it?  Why  did  it  take  the 
course  of  materialism,  when  it  had,  what  may 
have  been  its  last  call  from  God  to  show  the 
world  that  what  it  stood  for  was  wealth  of 
spiritual  power?  It  must  be  plain  to  all 
that  if  Protestantism  had  presented  a  solid 
and  united  front  for  the  redemption  of  the 
human  race,  at  a  moment  when  the  masses, 
for  the  most  part,  stood  ready  to  welcome  the 
Christ,  all  the  wealth  needed  would  have 
flowed  into  its  coffers.  But  instead  of  proving 
God,  we  tested  gold  and  failed. 

In  former  ages,  individual  efforts,  single 
factories  and  business  enterprises  character¬ 
ized  the  commercial  life  of  the  world.  The 
Church  has  followed  the  same  course  for 
which,  in  those  days  and  under  those  condi¬ 
tions  of  transition,  there  might  have  been 
some  reasonable  excuse.  But,  in  these  days  of 
great  combinations,  vast  national  and  inter¬ 
national  alliances  for  efficiency  and  economy, 
the  present  state  of  Christianity,  its  divided 


19 


and  sub-divided  forces,  seeming  extravagance 
and  inefficiency  in  the  face  of  the  world’s  great¬ 
est  age  of  universal  need  is 

ALMOST  CRIMINAL  AND  POSITIVELY  SUICIDAL- 

We  are  learning  that  central  organization 
and  supreme  authority  are  not  necessarily 
inimical  to  democracy;  that,  properly  used, 
they  produce  the  most  satisfactory  form  of 
government  known  to  human  experience. 
We  have  learned  at  a  great  cost  that  any  great 
system  without  a  head,  even  though  it  may 
he  a  “figure-head,”  cannot  long  exist  in  a 
world  like  ours.  Glance  around  you  and  you 
will  not  find  another  such  group  of  200,000,000 
souls  without  a  court  of  final  appeal;  divided 
into  hundreds  of  separate  camps,  each  one 
forming  its  own  creed;  making  its  own  laws; 
placing  its  own  interpretation  upon  the 
“Bible”;  composing  its  own  hymns,  choosing 
its  own  music ;  emphasizing  its  own  ordinances ; 
refusing  to  recognize  in  many  instances  the 
validity  of  each  other’s  ministry,  or  even  mem¬ 
bership,  to  say  nothing  of  absolute  refusal  on 
the  part  of  some  denominations  or  sects  to  ac¬ 
knowledge  the  sincerity  and  efficiency  of 
others.  Then,  adding  to  the  absurdity  of  it  all 
we  include  in  all  our  hymnals  such  unifying 
songs  as  “Onward,  Christian  Soldiers  .  .  . 


20 


We  are  Not  Divided,  All  One  Body  We,  One 
in  Faith  and  Doctrine,  One  in  Charity.”  But 


IT  IS  CLAIMED  THAT  CHRIST  IS  THE  HEAD  OF 
ALL  THESE  DIVIDED  CAMPS. 

Upon  what  is  this  claim  based?  Certainly 
not  upon  His  own  words.  Christ  can  never 
be  the  head  of  a  dismembered  body,  and  His 
spiritual  body  is  the  Church.  He  devoted  a 
lengthy  prayer,  the  only  one  left  on  record,  to 
admonishing  his  followers  to  “BE  ONE  as 
He  and  the  Father  are  One.”  The  whole  trend 
of  His  utterances  proves  that  He  staked  His 
life  and  Death  upon  the  prospect  and  cer¬ 
tainty  of  a  UNITED  FOLLOWING  and 
human  events  ought  to  furnish  overwhelming 
testimony  that — 


a 


A  HOUSE  DIVIDED  AGAINST  ITSELF  CANNOT 

stand” 

The  alarming  condition  which  confronts 
Christendom  to-dav  is  not  what  is  termed 

%j 

‘‘higher  criticism,”  but  what  ought  to  be 
known  as  “lower  criticism.”  No  Christian 
need  fear  investigation  and  criticism  which 
grows  out  of  a  high  spiritual  frame  of  mind 
and  proceeds  to  discover  what  is  in  the  Master 
Mnid  of  the  ages.  But  we  should  dread  that 


21 


which  shakes  every  foundation,  outrages  every 
sense  of  the  spiritual  and  results  in  a  range  of 
preaching  which  includes  everything  from 
sheer  flaptrap  to  a  literal  interpretation  of 
Divine  truth,  and  diverges  again  into  what 
Gladstone  termed  an  attempt  “to  acleviate  the 
pearly  battlements  of  the  sebperternal  pro¬ 
fundities  to  the  extent  of  an  interminable 
argument.”  Such  preaching  can  only  end  in 
a  more  complete  disruption  of  Christian 
teaching. 

It  would  be  interesting  if  it  did  not  prove 
too  painful,  to  be  able  to  read  a  verbatim  re¬ 
port  of  all  the  sermons  delivered  in  one  of  our 
large  cities  on  a  given  Sunday.  What  a  med¬ 
ley  of  divergent  notes  they  would  contain. 
What  almost  contradictory  ideas  advanced. 
What  a  variety  of  doctrines  propounded.  In¬ 
terpretations  indulged  in.  After  reading  them, 
the  thoughtful  student  of  homiletics  would,  no 
doubt,  be  at  a  loss  to  find  the  real  Christ,  the 
simple  gospel,  or  a  definite  plan  calculated  to 
lead  him  anywhere  worth  while,  certainly  not 
to  the  feet  of  that  Teacher  who  pronounced 
His  gospel  so  plain  that  “A  wayfaring  man, 
tho’  a  fool,  need  not  err  therein.”  Yet  these 
exponents  of  truth  belong  to  One  Great  In¬ 
stitution  known  as  the  Christian  Church  having 
One  Faith,  One  Great  Teacher  and  Common 


22 


Lord,  One  Baptism  and  One  Supreme  Mes¬ 
sage  contained  in  OXE  GREAT  BOOK  for 
a  perishing  humanity.  But  the  calamity  is  in¬ 
creased  a  thousand  fold  when  it  is  realized  what 
is  true  of  one  city  is  extended  and  duplicated 
the  world  over. 

CAX  WE  STANDARDIZE  TRUTH? 

Perhaps  not;  yet,  it  seems  to  have  been 

done  for  us  by  the  Great  Teacher  Himself  in 

•/ 

a  complete  plan  and  a  perfect  gospel  which 
must  be  accepted  rather  than  explained.  One 
of  the  greatest  curses  of  the  church  of  the 
twentieth  century  is  the  abuse  of  what  is 
known  as  4 ‘personal  interpretation  of  Script¬ 
ure,”  the  utter  lack  of  uniformity  in  our 
approach  to  and  handling  of  Divine  Truth. 
In  the  world  of  labor  and  commerce  we  are 
standardizing  material  factors  so  that  wher¬ 
ever  they  are  found  or  whenever  applied  they 
fit  the  place  and  fill  the  need  for  which  they  are 
designed;  but,  every  fundamental  truth,  doc¬ 
trine  or  virtue  of  the  Christian  religion,  in 
many  cases,  is  left  to  the  mercy  of  wise  or 
ignorant  exponents  who,  chancing  to  face  such 
truth,  are  moved  to  explain  it.  These  truths 
which  are  perfect  in  their  simplicity  are  often 
warped  out  of  all  recognition  by  the  learned 
or  mutilated,  and  left  lifeless  by  the  ignorant. 


23 


But,  it  is  objected,  “we  cannot  all  think 
alike”;  that  may  and  perhaps  must  be  true 
when  applied  to  common  events  and  conditions, 
but  it  does  not  apply  to  the  fundamentals  of 
the  supreme  concern  of  life,  the  eternal  verities 
of  the  soul.  The  minister  who  speculates  with 
the  acknowledged  basic  truths  of  Christianity 
is  not  loyal  to  his  Master  who  gave  one  simple 
command  to  all  his  followers,  “Go  ye  into  all 
the  world  and  preach  the  gospel.”  Now  the 
gospel  is  “good  news”  which  cannot  be  dimin¬ 
ished  or  added  to  and,  since  it  is  good  and  per¬ 
fect,  it  cannot  be  improved  upon  by  human 
wisdom. 


WHAT  PROTESTANTISM  NEEDS 

One  great  need  of  the  Protestant  church  to¬ 
day  is  central  organization  and  supreme  au¬ 
thority.  Central  organization  as  a  clearing 
house  for  its  multiplied  activities,  manned  by 
the  best  and  most  consecrated  leaders,  men  en¬ 
dowed  with  Christian  statesmanship,  broad¬ 
minded  enough  to  administer  the  affairs  of  a 
United  Christendom,  trained  in  efficiency,  so 
that  the  men  and  millions  of  the  Christian 
World  may  be  organized  for  a  militant  cam¬ 
paign  against  every  entrenched  evil,  leaving 
nothing  to  chance,  permitting  no  part  of  the 
Body  of  Christ  to  be  weakened  by  dissension, 


24 


rivalry  or  prejudice;  in  a  word — capable  of  co¬ 
ordinating  the  scattered  and  unused  forces  of 
our  present  system  into  an  ALLIED 
CHRISTIAN  ARMY  for  the  overthrow  of 
sin  and  the  enthronement  of  a  Living  Present 
Christ. 

One  great  FACT  which  looms  up  before 
our  minds  to-day,  the  colossal  importance  of 
which  almost  staggers  us,  is  that  in  the  realm 
of  mind  and  matter  great  combinations  of 
energy  will  produce  undreamed  of  results  both 
in  volume,  variety  and  quality.  See  what 
science  and  medicine  have  accomplished  since 
the  various  schools  have  allied  their  forces. 
Behold  what  mammoth  commercial  enterprises 
have  come  into  being  through  combinations  of 
men  and  material.  Whilst  that  universal 
scourge — War — has  bewildered  us  by  the  vast¬ 
ness  of  its  conquests  through  allied  forces  of 
men  and  billions,  yet  Christianity,  designed  by 
its  Founder  to  be  a  UNIT  OF  SPIRITUAL 
POWER,  remains,  in  the  face  of  human  ex¬ 
perience  and  Divine  injunction,  a  dismembered 
body,  some  parts  of  which  present  a  pathetic 
SPECTACLE  OF  WEAKNESS  AND 
INEFFICIENCY. 

It  ought  to  be  plain  and  I  venture  to  assert 
that  it  is  perfectly  clear  to  a  broad-minded 
clergy  and  laity  that  Protestantism  as  a  pro- 


25 


testing  force  has  had  its  day  and  has  performed 
its  great  mission.  It  had  its  rise  in  past  gener¬ 
ations  when  good  and  great  men  thought  it  im¬ 
perative  that  they  should  protest  against 
creeds,  doctrines  and  conditions  which  seemed 
to  be  inimical  to  the  progress  of  the  Kingdom. 
These  protests  which  were  made  by  words  and 
blood,  in  sermon  and  in  song,  have  come  down 
through  four  hundred  years  of  church  history 
and,  let  it  be  said,  to  the  glory  of  its  heroes,  it 
has  realized  much  of  its  dream  and  accom¬ 
plished  its  tremendous  task;  that  is,  it  has 
established  personal  liberty  and  individual  ac¬ 
countability;  it  has  taken  the  shackles  off  the 
mind,  the  chains  off  of  the  WORD;  it  has  done 
more;  it  has  established  certain  Fundamentals 
of  Christian  faith  and  doctrine  and  has  offered 
to  men  everywhere  a  world-wide  vision  of 
human  redemption. 

But,  if  we  bring  forth  the  list  of  things  which 
are  protested  against  by  the  Christian  church 
of  to-day,  what  are  they?  Have  they  any 
direct  bearing  upon  admitted  fundamentals? 
Do  these  trifling  differences  against  which  we 
record  our  protest  retard  or  hinder  the  prog¬ 
ress  of  Divine  truth?  Is  it  not  a  self-evident 
fact  that  we  are  beating  the  air  and  wasting 
our  resources,  that  we  are  fighting  sham  battles 


26 


against  imaginery  foes?  And,  even  where 
there  is  a  remnant  of  reason  for  such  protest, 
would  it  not  soon  vanish  before  a  solid  unity 
;  of  belief  in  the  Divine  Verities  concerning 
which  we  are  all  agreed  ? 

, 

CHRISTIAN  FORCES  NEED  GREAT  LEADERS 

We  hasten  to  admit  that  we  have  a  few  lead¬ 
ers.  In  every  religious  body  we  find  men  who 
have  outgrown  the  accepted  creeds  of  their 
church,  certainly  men  who  have  outgrown 
bigotry  and  prejudice,  red-blooded,  lofty- 
minded,  highly  spiritual  men  with  a  great 
vision  which  they  are  anxious  and  ready  to 
obey;  and,  what  is  more  reassuring,  we  can 
behold  a  new  and  better  equipped  army  of 
leaders  bringing  up  the  rear  who  will  not  be 
satisfied  with  the  imperfect  conditions  of 
Christianity  but  will  demand  a  centralization 
of  consecrated  wisdom  and  common  sense  for 
an  institution  designed  and  commissioned  to 
redeem  the  world. 

It  may  be  supposed  or  affirmed  that  such  a 
plan  is  a  direct  overture  to  Roman  Catholi¬ 
cism  and,  therefore,  must  be  rejected  by  Prot¬ 
estantism.  Xow,  I  hold  no  brief  for  Catholi¬ 
cism  nor  can  I  conceive  of  our  free  churches  re¬ 
tracing  their  steps  to  the  Rome  of  yesterday; 


but,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Catholic 
church  of  today,  in  non-essentials  and  in  meth¬ 
ods  of  operation  is  not  the  Catholic  church  of 
four  centuries  ago.  It  also  has  had  its  visions 
and  has  dreamed  its  dreams,  to  follow  the  one 
and  realize  the  other;  it  has  followed  the  law 
of  adaptation,  has  trimmed  its  sails  to  the 
winds  which  have  borne  it  forward.  It  has 
taken  its  place  in  social,  intellectual  and  po¬ 
litical  spheres,  and  has  proven  itself  equal  to 
the  tremendous  tasks  confronting  it.  Let  the 
reader  take  his  stand  upon  orthodox  Protest¬ 
ant  ground  and  assert  all  his  prerogatives 
affirming  that  he  never  could  be  a  Catholic, 
conjuring  up  in  his  mind  all  the  antiquated 
reasons  and  all  the  logical  ones  for  the  position 
he  occupies.  Then,  let  him  look  at  the  seven¬ 
teen  million  souls  composing  the  Catholic 
church  of  the  United  States  alone.  There  are 
facts  before  which  we  will  stand  amazed — 
its  unity  of  purpose,  its  conformity  of  belief, 
its  unbroken  ranks,  its  part  in  the  great  hu¬ 
manitarian  work  of  making  a  “better  world,” 
its  solid  front  against  immorality  and  crime, 
and  above  all,  the  distinguished  part  it  has 
played  in  promoting  world  peace.  Then, 
without  fear  of  losing  his  denominational  foot¬ 
ing,  or  showing  favor  to  the  institution  he  may 
not  admire,  let  him  ask  himself  the  question 


28 


WHAT  IS  THE  REASON  FOR  SUCH  UNITY  AND 

STABILITY? 

Of  course,  other  answers  may  occur  to  his 
mind,  but  the  one  which  completely  meets  the 
case  is  found  in  the  existence  of  central  organ¬ 
ization,  supreme  authority  and  leadership. 

To  define  just  what  powers  might  be  in¬ 
vested  in  such  central  organization  would  be 
premature  and  out  of  place  here ;  yet,  it  might 
be  worth  while  to  suggest  that  the  acquire¬ 
ment  of  any  power  must  be  gradual,  keeping 
pace  with  the  enlightenment  of  those  over 
whom  such  power  is  to  be  exercised  and  must 
be  deposited  in  the  body  rather  than  be  usurped 
by  it.  What  is  known  as  “The  Federal 
Council  of  Churches,”  which  is  a  sincere  at¬ 
tempt  to  reach  the  goal,  but  which  is  only  a 
roadhouse  along  the  journey  of  Protestantism 
to  its  final  destination,  might  suggest  to  our 
minds  the  nature  of  the  power  proposed. 

To  secure  public  acknowledgment  of  certain 
fundamentals  which  are  now  practically  ad¬ 
mitted,  to  limit  criticism,  so  that  it  shall  not 
pass  beyond  certain  and  safe  bounds,  to  estab¬ 
lish  guideposts  and  safety  zones  for  the  unin¬ 
itiated  in  spiritual  things,  to  counsel  the 
churches  in  great  social  movements,  to  apply 
modern  methods  to  the  churches  of  a  modern 


29 


world,  to  eliminate  waste  and  conserve  energy, 
to  foster  the  most  genuine  fellowship  and  good 
will  among  all  who  profess  and  call  themselves 
Christians,  to  standardize  methods;  in  a  word, 
to  gradually  bring  the  Christian  forces  of  the 
world  up  to  a  condition  of  exalted  efficiency 
and  a  high  spiritual  plane  of  Endeavor  un¬ 
matched  or  unexcelled  by  any  other  institution 
of  the  ages,  this  should  be  the  aim  of  central 
organization  of  Christianity. 

Those  individuals  or  churches  who  may  ob¬ 
ject  to  the  foregoing  suggestions  will  raise 
their  hands  in  horror  when  I  add  that  in  my 
own  humble  opinion  such  a  representative 
body  must  have  a  great  Head  in  the  person¬ 
ality  of  some  man  or  men  of  great  learning, 
virtue  and  faith,  who  should  be  the  “last  Court 
of  Appeals,”  the  great  controlling  mind,  the 
paternal  personality  to  whose  wise  and  mature 
judgment,  in  case  of  final  jurisdiction,  the 
body  would  yield  willing  obedience. 

I  can  hear  the  oft-repeated  declaration: 
“We  yield  to  none  but  Christ” — “He  is  the 

%j 

Head  and  the  only  Head  of  the  Church.”  In 
a  very  real  sense  this  is  true,  but  it  is  true  also 
in  a  somewhat  limited  sense.  In  the  churches 
that  have  the  greatest  freedom  of  government 
we  know  that  the  Moderator  has  vastly  more 
to  do  with  great  denominational  issues  than  is 


30 


sometimes  supposed.  Persuasion  and  diplo¬ 
macy  may  enter  into  the  matter  or  appear  on 
the  surface;  but,  nevertheless,  the  Moderator’s 
expression  of  opinion  and  the  influence  of  his 
office  makes  him  look  very  much  like  a  head. 
When  we  turn  to  the  great  Protestant  Metho¬ 
dist  Episcopal  church,  we  have  a  head  to  the 
little  circuit  body,  the  Presiding  Elder,  a  head 
to  the  Conference  body  called  a  Bishop  and 
still  another  head  of  all  the  combined  confer¬ 
ences  called  a  Presiding  Bishop.  If  you  are  a 
Methodist  Steward  or  a  preacher  I  have  no 
need  to  remind  you  that  there  is  a  large  degree 
of  finality  in  the  rulings  and  decisions  of  these 
respective  heads,  and  perhaps  it  has  occurred 
to  you  that  the  wonderful  growth,  vast  num¬ 
bers  of  the  organization  and  the  comparative 
efficiency  of  its  operations  may  be  accounted 
for  in  the  fact  that  of  all  the  Protestant 
churches,  Methodism  has  the  greatest  cen¬ 
tral  organization  and  is  largely  controlled  by 
OXE  GREAT  HEAD.  Stranger  yet,  is  the 
fact  that  as  you  go  away  from  Supreme  Lead¬ 
ership  in  the  Catholic  church  down  the  line 
toward  local  autonomy  and  independence, 
you  find  the  church  becoming  weaker  in  num¬ 
bers  and  world  wider  influence. 


31 


THE  SPIRITUAL  HEAD  OF  THE  CHURCH 

DEFINED 

When  Christ  was  upon  the  Earth,  the  few 
and  scattered  followers  who  constituted  what 
was  then  regarded  as  an  unorganized  church, 
looked  to  him  as  its  Head.  With  organization 
came  the  spiritual  presence  which  replaced  his 
bodily  presence.  Then  followed  Apostles,  El¬ 
ders  and  Bishops,  men  whose  ability,  devotion 
and  spiritual  insight  entitled  them  to  leader¬ 
ship.  These,  together  with  His  followers, 
were  called  His  body,  His  church.  Now  it  is 
a  self-evident  proposition  that  Christ  is  the 
Head  of  His  own  but  Spiritual  Body,  the 
organization  in  which  the  Body  of  Christ  ex¬ 
presses  itself  and  becomes  a  human  agency  for 
a  Divine  purpose  must  also  have  a  Head,  not 
many  heads,  not  even  two  heads,  which  might 
suggest  a  monster  but  never  a  church.  This 
has  been  the  contention  of  Catholicism  for  cen¬ 
turies;  but,  in  its  reflective  moments,  even 
Rome  must  admit  that  she  does  not  represent 
the  whole  of  the  Christian  Commonwealth. 
So  long  as  two  hundred  million  Christians  who 
believe  in  the  same  God,  accept  the  same 
Christ,  teach  the  same  gospel,  and  in  all  essen¬ 
tials  have  the  same  Faith,  do  not  come  under 
her  leadership,  she  must  concede  this  much, 


32 


or  by  not  admitting  it  declare  all  those  out¬ 
side  her  church  to  be  non-Christian;  that  is, 
not  followers  of  the  Christ.  Such  a  declaration 
would  not  do  credit  to  the  Catholic  or  any  other 
church. 

“a  dream  that  must  come  true” 

No  Protestant,  endowed  with  even  a  limited 
degree  of  intelligence,  or  into  whose  heart  has 
fallen  the  faintest  ray  of  Divine  Love,  but 
would  admit  that  a  Catholic  man  or  woman 
who  has  embraced  the  fundamentals  of  re¬ 
ligion  and  is  loyal  to  these  and  the  Church,  will 
share  in  all  the  benefits  accruing  from  a  Chris¬ 
tian  life,  even  though  they  may  have  attached 
to  these  fundamentals  the  forms  and  cere¬ 
monies  of  Roman  Catholic  Church.  I  think 
that  in  these  modern  days  it  would  be  equally 
difficult  to  find  an  intelligent  Catholic  who 
would  not  make  similar  concessions  to  Protest¬ 
ants  of  equal  devotion  and  character;  that  is, 
he  would  admit  that  the  things  we  protest 
against  in  each  other  are  not  the  things  which 
determine  our  salvation,  our  standing  in  the 
church  or  our  final  destiny.  Yet,  important 
as  this  fact  is,  there  is  another  which  ought  to 
weigh  much  in  the  present  consideration. 
There  have  been  great  and  holy  men  in  both 
communions  whose  breadth  of  vision  and  char- 


33 


ity  of  soul  have  led  them  to  measure  the  dis¬ 
tance  between  these  two  great  forces  for  right¬ 
eousness  and  to  dream  of  a  distinct  time  when, 
by  sacrificing  nothing  of  real  value  to  either, 
both  might  be  brought  together  on  a  grand 
and  exalted  plane  of  supreme  effort  to  save  the 
world.  Strong  men  and  great  heroes  have  had 
dreams  of  conquest  in  which  they  have  seen 
empires  rise  and  fall,  kingdoms  wax  and  wane. 
World  movements  have  appeared  to  them  as 
grand  panoramas  of  human  greatness  and 
progress,  but  never  has  a  dream  been  more  real 
to  the  seers  of  past  ages  than  this,  because  it 
seems  to  contain  within  itself 

THE  MEANS  AND  ASSURANCE  OF  ITS  OWN 

FULFILLMENT 

We  say  and  we  believe  that  this  dream  must 
come  true,  and  it  will.  Centralization  of 
power  must  take  the  idace  of  independent 
action;  unguided  thought  must  be  succeeded 
by  willing  surrender  to  supreme  authority, 
waste  of  energy  to  efficiency — prejudice  to 
charity — rivalry  to  cooperation.  In  other 
words,  Protestantism  as  it  exists  can  not  sur¬ 
vive — it  must  unite  to  secure  these  benefits, 
then  upon  the  ruins  of  an  ecclesiastical  battle¬ 
field  the  kingdom  will  rise  which  is  to  have 
no  end. 


34 


A  BROOD  OF  LESSER  EVILS 


Ill  the  presence  of  the  achievements  of  Prot¬ 
estantism  during  the  last  half  century,  its  bil¬ 
lions  of  wealth,  millions  of  accessions,  stately 
edifices  and  the  multiplicity  of  its  organiza¬ 
tions,  it  may  seem  strange  that  we  should 
speak  of  evils  within  the  church,  nor  do  we 
forget  that  a  humanly  directed  institution  can- 
not  be  free  from  human  error.  But  let  us  face 
the  facts;  since,  by  so  doing,  we  have  every¬ 
thing  to  gain  and  nothing  to  lose. 

For  four  hundred  years  Protestantism  has 
been  engaged  in  unrelenting  controversy  much 
of  which  may  have  been  needed  to  place  it  in 
its  present  position  before  the  World.  Al¬ 
though  it  is  certain  that  the  Master  has  been 
saying  “Behold,  I  show  you  a  better  way,” 
imagine  if  you  can  the  amount  of  time,  energy, 
genius  and  devotion  which  has  been  wasted 
upon  futile  efforts  to  combat  doctrines  and 
creeds  which  have  had  little  or  no  relation  to 
the  simple  gospel  of  the  Man  of  Galilee;  time 
and  energy,  genius  and  devotion,  which  might 
have  been  used  to  save  a  sin-smitten  world; 
and  during  these  centuries  of  combat,  this 
brood  of  evils  has  found  a  place  inside  the 
Church  attacking  its  very  existence,  threaten- 

O  *  7 

ing  its  life  and  producing  conditions  in  our 


3  5 


day  undreamed  of  fifty  years  ago.  And  what 
are  some  of  these  conditions? 

LACK  OF  REVERENCE  FOR  DIVINE  PRESENCE  AND 

PLACES 

It  will  be  admitted  that  in  some  places  and 
under  certain  social  conditions  there  are  houses 
of  worship  where  there  still  exists  a  spirit  of 
comparative  reverence,  but  in  commercial  cen¬ 
ters,  towns  and  villages,  the  spirit  of  reverence 
for  sacred  edifices  and  places  of  worship  is 
entirely  lacking.  A  few  of  these  localities  and 
buildings  escape  the  influence  of  irreverence 
owing  to  their  age  or  historical  associations. 
Here  again  is  seen  the  effect  of  the  whole 
system;  churches  are  organized  from  strange, 
varied  and  sometimes  sectarian  motives;  the 
desire  of  one  denomination  to  surpass  and 
even  of  one  church  to  outclass  another  of  the 
same  communion.  Heavy  financial  burdens 
are  incurred,  causing  tremendous  struggles 
and  often  bitter  contentions,  ending  in  a  mort¬ 
gage  being  placed  upon  time,  money  and 
Christian  patience.  It  becomes  a  commercial 
proposition  and  even  the  building  itself  loses 
the  sacred  influence  it  is  intended  to  possess. 

Whatever  may  be  claimed  for  Institutional 
churches  and  modern  church  architecture,  it 
cannot  be  said  that  they  minister  to  the  spirit 


36 


of  reverence  which  is  one  of  the  fundamentals 
of  religion;  the  grouping  together  of  rooms 
used  for  secular  purposes  under  one  roof  and 
the  social  or  commercial  activities  so  often  pro¬ 
moted  in  and  around  the  central  place  of  wor¬ 
ship  deprives  the  sacred  spot  of  the  claim  to 
devout  reverence.  The  vestibule  becomes  a  re¬ 
ception  hallway  and  the  worshiper  passes  into 
the  presence  of  Him  who  declares  that  He  is 
“in  the  midst”  without  a  thought  of  bowing  in 
prayer  or  acting  in  any  other  fashion  than  as 
if  they  were  in  “the  main  auditorium,”  which 
the  house  of  worship  is  so  often  called.  Thus 
the  service  is  begun,  continued  and  ended  in 
the  same  lack  of  personal  participation  in 
the  spirit  of  worship,  without  which  no  build¬ 
ing,  however  consecrated,  can  be  rightly  called 
a  CHURCH.  Not  wishing  to  create  a  distinct 
contrast  between  the  church  and  himself  and 
being  unable  to  bring  about  a  reform,  many 
a  spiritually-minded  minister  has  fallen  into 
that  slovenly  unconventional  disregard  of  pul¬ 
pit  manners  which  disgust  so  many  and  turn 
the  finest  efforts  into  an  empty  appeal. 


37 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  INSIDE  OF  THE  CUP 


THE  INSIDE  OF  THE  CUP 


AS  the  world  grows  in  intelligence  it  may 
he  depended  upon  to  develop  discern¬ 
ment,  the  ability  to  appreciate  the  ex¬ 
terior  of  men  and  things,  at  the  same  time,  to 
detect  what  is  on  the  inside.  And  it  is  this 
growing  spirit  of  discernment  which  churches 
in  common  with  other  institutions  must  face 
today.  Our  buildings  may  be  replete  with 
every  equipment,  even  system  and  efficiency 
may  have  been  installed  in  every  department, 
ornate  and  dignified  services  may  be  the  rule, 
but  men  of  discernment  know  that  these 
forms  are  no  real  part  of  the  Christian  religion. 
They  also  know  that  the  REAL  THING 

w 

may  and  often  does  dwell  apart  from  these. 
These  are  the  “outside  of  the  cup.”  What 
does  He  expect  to  find  “INSIDE  THE 
CHLTRCHr’ — Sincerity,  devotion,  charity, 
reverence  and  love;  these  and  other  virtues, 
which,  when  combined,  present  to  the  discern¬ 
ing  mind  a  picture  of  what  a  church  ought  to 
be. 

It  may  be  asserted  that  the  church  must 
adapt  itself  to  local,  mental,  social  and  other 
conditions  of  its  people.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  deny  this  claim  in  order  to  point  out  that 
Protestantism  as  it  now  exists  is  often  a  trav- 


41 


esty  upon  ideals  of  the  Christian  Religion. 
This  is  peculiarly  true  of  certain  parts  of  our 
country.  I  think  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  the 
countries  of  Europe  are  better  served  today 
by  the  ministry  of  the  Salvation  Army  than 
many  of  our  cities  are  ministered  to  by  some 
modern  churches  for,  over  there,  the  Army 
conducts  a  dignified  service,  using  devotional 
hymns,  with  addresses  free  from  sensational¬ 
ism  and  slang,  which  leads  even  the  onlooker 
to  uncover  his  head  and  bow  in  the  presence 
of  what  he  feels  is  an  honest  attempt  to  give 
the  world  “REAL  RELIGION.”  The  law 
of  expediency  does  not  violate  the  law  of 
reason  in  the  Army. 

THE  DOOM  OF  COMMERCIALIZED  EVANGELISM 

For  more  than  a  century  the  churches  of 
Protestantism  have  at  intervals  felt  the  need 
of  special  efforts  to  reach  the  indifferent  and 
neglected  people  of  each  community;  these  ef¬ 
forts  have  been  from  time  to  time  styled  mis¬ 
sions,  revivals  or  evangelistic  services.  In  re¬ 
cent  years  they  have  assumed  large  propor¬ 
tions  through  united  bodies  and  have  been 
called  “Campaigns;”  for  a  third  of  a  century 
these  high  tensioned  movements  have  been 
more  or  less  popular,  chiefly  among  what  are 


42 


known  as  evangelistic  churches.  The  more 
or  less  perfect  organization,  character  of 
preaching  and  after  meetings,  the  impersonal 
manner  of  dealings  with  so-called  converts 
who  are  sometimes  composed  of  people  whose 
emotions  led  them  to  shake  hands  with  the 
preacher  or  in  some  other  easy  way  indicate 
their  wish  to  join  the  church;  these  have  fur¬ 
nished  much  food  for  thought  and  ground 
for  discussion  on  the  part  of  thoughtful  men 
and  women.  The  net  result  of  this  thought 
and  discussion  expresses  itself  in  a  widespread 
concern  as  to  the  amount  of  permanent  good 
accomplished  or  actual  spiritual  results  at¬ 
tained.  The  growth  of  intelligence  and  that 
spirit  of  discernment  already  referred  to, 
which  may  generally  be  depended  upon  to 
render  a  just  verdict,  has  led  ministers  and 
churches  in  large  numbers  to  condemn  Cam¬ 
paign  evangelism  as  an  unwise  method  of 
reviving  churches  or  adding  to  their  numbers, 
so  that  evangelism  of  this  character  seems  to 
be  rapidly  approaching  its  doom;  in  fact,  the 
evangelist  is  almost  unknown  in  England  and 
is  losing  his  hold  upon  many  parts  of  the 
United  States. 


43 


HAVE  WE  AN  ADEQUATE  SUBSTITUTE? 


The  answer  to  this  question  must  depend 
upon  local  conditions.  In  some  large  city 
churches,  where  the  equipment  consisting  of 
assistant  pastors,  varied  organizations,  large 
choirs  and  publicity  methods,  furnishes  the 
material  for  widespread  endeavor,  it  may  be 
said  that  a  substitute  already  exists,  or  rather 
under  these  conditions  special  revivals  are  not 
urgently  needed;  but,  in  the  great  majority 
of  churches  where  one  voice  is  constantly 
heard  from  the  pulpit  and  one  lone  minister 
carries  the  entire  burden,  where  the  music  is 
commonplace,  crowds  small  and  conditions  for 
special  efforts  are  lacking,  something  must  be 
found  to  take  the  place  of  modern  evangelism. 
Some  plans  have  been  adopted  and  others  sug¬ 
gested;  most  of  them  have  failed,  as  all  such 
methods  will  fail,  so  long  as  Protestantism  re¬ 
mains  divided  and  subdivided  as  it  is  today. 
The  vital  conditions  needed  for  the  success  of 
any  reasonable  effort  is  a  great  impulse  urging 
all  the  churches  in  any  one  town  or  city  to  lay 
aside  sectarian  prejudice  and  methods  upon 
which  we  are  wasting  time,  energy  and  money, 
and  demonstrate  in  practice  what  we  boast¬ 
fully  proclaim  in  our  preaching  that  we  “ARE 
ONE,”  as  Christ  and  the  Father  are  One. 


44 


Then  special  efforts  would  not  be  necessary 
because  every  effort  would  appear  special  in 
its  results  as  it  would  be  magnificent  in  its  aim 
for  we  have  yet  to  prove  that  it  will  take 

A  UNITED  CHRISTENDOM  NOT  A  FIGHTING 

PROTESTANTISM 

to  save  the  world.  What  is  also  needed  to  re¬ 
place  the  methods  of  professional  evangelism 
is  a  general  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  there 
are  no  bargains  in  the  spiritual  life,  as  there 
are  none  in  the  world  of  legitimate  business. 
He  who  would  possess  real  religion  must  pay 
for  it  in  the  coin  of  the  spiritual  realm — Sacri¬ 
fice  and  Service.  So  long  as  the  masses,  under 
conditions  of  great  emotion,  are  led  to  believe 
that  shaking  hands  with  the  evangelist,  sign¬ 
ing  cards,  contributing  to  churches  and  being 
on  good  terms  with  the  minister,  form  any 
part,  much  less  a  vital  part,  of  a  Christian 
life,  we  shall  never  add  much  of  real  positive 
value  to  the  working  forces  of  Christianity. 

What  men  are  asked  to  pay  for  this  “pearl 
of  greatest  price,”  although  not  commensurate 
with  its  infinite  value,  must  be  such  as  to  pro¬ 
duce  a  character  worthy  of  possessing  it. 


45 


IF,  AS  IT  IS  SOMETIMES  CLAIMED,  THERE 
IS  A  REAL  DIFFICULTY  STANDING  IN 
THE  WAY  OF  VITAL  AND  WORKABLE 
FEDERATION  OF  ALL  THE  CHURCHES  OF 
CHRISTENDOM,  THEN  EVERY  RED- 
BLOODED  CHRISTIAN  SHOULD  RID  HIM¬ 
SELF  OF  THE  LAST  SHADE  OF  INDIFFER¬ 
ENCE  AND  STAND  UP  ALL  HIS  INCHES 
FOR  THE  REMOVAL  OF  THE  REMAINING 
OBSTACLES  WHICH  MAY  ENDANGER 
CHRISTIANITY  AND  SOME  DAY  MENACE 
THE  PEACE  AND  PROGRESS  OF  MAN¬ 
KIND. 


WHAT  WOULD  A  MERCHANT  PRINCE  DO  WITH 

PROTESTANTISM  ? 

It  is  difficult  to  persuade  the  average 
churchman  that  natural  and  economic  laws  can 
be  applied  in  the  spiritual  world;  some  suc¬ 
cessful  attempts  have  been  made  to  apply  bus¬ 
iness  methods  to  Christian  work;  unfortu¬ 
nately,  these  efforts  have  not  extended  far  be- 

vond  the  establishment  of  denominational  of- 
* 

flees,  card  index  systems  and  sectarian  propa¬ 
ganda.  The  question  to  be  considered  here  is 
what  would  one  of  our  great  merchant  princes 
who  has  made  fortunes  for  others  and  billions 
for  himself  in  a  single  lifetime — what  would 
such  a  man  do  if  the  vast  resources  of  200,000,- 
000  people  of  the  Protestant  faith  were  turned 
over  to  him  unconditionally  for  the  purpose  of 
making  it  a  world  power? 

If  he  were  a  Christian  himself,  he  would  be 
spared  the  initial  step,  having  taken  that  step, 
placing  himself  in  harmony  with  Christ,  and 
His  teachings,  I  think  he  would  then  study 
the  aim  and  object  of  the  institution  placed 
under  his  care,  having  discovered  that  this  aim 
and  object  was  the  transformation  and  re¬ 
demption  of  the  human  race,  by  a  simple  plan 
contained  in  the  fewest  possible  words,  called  a 
Gospel,  he  would  look  for  the  fundamental 


49 


principles  upon  which  this  plan  was  based. 
He  would  in  all  probability  cast  around  him 
for  a  suitable  name  which  would  express  the 
great  meaning  and  comprehensive  mission  of 
this  Gospel,  calculated  to  convey  to  men  the 
meaning  of  Christian  unity  and  fasten  the 
mind  of  the  world  upon  the  supreme  aims 
and  ambitions  of  a  WORLD  CHURCH.  In 
his  search  for  such  a  name,  if  one  was  sug¬ 
gested  which  was  already  a  thousand  years 
old,  he  would  not  reject  it  simply  because  of 
that  fact,  nor  would  he  retain  or  adopt  a  name 
because  it  was  novel  or  had  been  in  use  four 
hundred  years.  In  this  matter  of  a  suitable 
name  for  the  combined  forces  of  the  Christian 
Church  he  would  consider  simplicity  and  in¬ 
clusiveness  as  the  chief  reasons  for  its  adop¬ 
tion.  He  would  eliminate  every  debatable, 
unnecessary  antiquated  theory  or  creed;  he 
would  preserve  all  the  essentials  of  faith  and 
practice  and  minimize  the  non-essentials  of  a 
working  system.  In  a  word,  he  would  make 
clear  to  his  own  mind  what  the  great  thing  was 
which  had  to  be  done,  and  would  catch  the 
idea  of  the  renowned  Apostle — “This  one 
thing  I  do,  forgetting  the  things  which  are  be¬ 
hind,  I  press  towards  the  mark.” 

Such  a  man  would  gather  around  him  the 
most  consecrated,  brainiest,  courageous  and 

50 


broad-minded  men  of  the  age,  not  men  who 
were  famous  for  hair-splitting  doctrinal  dis¬ 
cussion  or  creed  building,  but  men  of  one  mind 
about  the  ONE  THING— the  redemption 
of  mankind;  with  these  men  he  would  form  a 
central  organization  with  a  supreme  leader¬ 
ship  as  nearly  capable  of  doing  the  great  task 
as  it  was  possible  to  find. 

He  would  now  be  ready  to  review  his  field — 
the  world — and  his  resources,  the  millions  of 
men  and  billions  of  wealth  to  be  found  in  it. 
His  next  important  move  would  be  to  blend 
all  these  forces  into  one  great  unit  of  power. 
It  would  be  a  great  task,  but  think  of 

THE  END  WHICH  WOULD  JUSTIFY  THE  MEANS 

And  to  this  end  he  would  commence  a  propa¬ 
ganda,  unlike  anything  the  world  has  ever 
known  and,  as  his  Master  had  done  before 
him,  he  would  beg,  beseech  and  implore  each 
denomination  and  sect  to  lay  aside  every  minor 
consideration,  every  petty  difference,  doctrine 
or  dissension  calculated  to  retard  the  progress 
of  a  united  people  to  accomplish  the  “ONE 
THING.”  He  would  remind  them  that  four 
hundred  years  were  enough  to  spend  in  dis¬ 
cussing  questions,  many  of  which  never  ought 
to  have  been  raised,  and  were  not  pertinent  to 


51 


the  great  issue  at  stake.  In  an  amazingly  short 
time  he  would  have  produced  a  condition  in 
which  the  sensationalism  of  preaching  on  the 
one  hand  so  the  dry-as-dust-sermons  on  the 
other  would  give  place  to  a  larger  ministry  of 
helpfulness  and  spiritual  power. 

Under  the  impulse  of  a  great  and  growing 
movement  it  appears  to  us  that  he  would  then 
look  out  upon  the  lost  motion  and  waste  of  our 
present  system  and  address  himself  to  the 
economic  side  of  the  system  by  combining 
all  missionary  movements  into  one  great  effi¬ 
cient  body  to  reach  the  billion  and  a  half  of 
souls  still  to  be  Christianized.  He  would  order 
the  foreign  missionary  field  cleared  of  conflict¬ 
ing  creeds,  doctrines  and  duplicating  efforts; 
and  would  endeavor  to  show  the  world  that  the 
wish  of  the  great  Founder  could  be  realized 
abroad  as  well  as  at  home. 

He  would  quickly  come  across  that  little 
text  which  the  pulpit  has  so  often  discoursed 
upon,  but  so  seldom  put  into  practice,  “the  la¬ 
borer  is  worthy  of  his  hire,”  he  would  see 
that  every  minister  received  a  living  wage,  in 
keeping  with  the  demands  made  upon  him. 
This  he  might  accomplish  by  disbanding  some 
churches,  increasing  the  efficiency  of  others 
and  churching  the  unchurched  communities 
where  the  Gospel  is  seldom  heard. 


52 


Our  merchant  prince  would,  through  a  great 
central  organization,  doubtless  appoint  a  com¬ 
mission  or  perhaps  a  number  of  them  to  tour 
the  world  for  the  purpose  of  appraising  the 
real  value  of  all  existing  means  and  methods 
and  to  determine  their  adaptibility  to  the  pres¬ 
ent  needs  of  Christendom. 

He  would  advocate  a  highly  spiritual 
church,  since  its  aims  were  spiritual,  he  would 
also  employ  the  latest  and  most  approved 
methods  of  turning  a  tide  of  wealth  into  the 
coffers  of  a  great  and  growing  movement; 
upon  this  head,  however,  there  would  be  little 
concern,  since  he  would  know  that  a  well  con¬ 
ducted  business  like  this,  with  a  divine  mission 
in  the  world,  wisely  counseled,  never  has 
lacked  and  never  will  lack  for  the  means  to 
carry  it  to  a  successful  issue.  By  this  time  he 
would  have  learned  to  rely  upon  some  of  the 
promises  made  by  the  departing  Christ  and 
upon  these  promises  he  would  stand  confident 
that  “heaven  and  earth  might  pass  away,  but 
God’s  word  and  work  never!” 

THE  HANDICAP  OF  THE  CHURCH 

The  history  of  what  is  known  as  “big  busi¬ 
ness’  is  a  brilliant  record  of  human  achieve¬ 
ment.  Among  the  outstanding  features  of 
these  successes  is  the  process  of  elimination, 


53 


the  cutting  out  of  all  unnecessary  expenditure 
of  energy,  time  and  money  and  the  cutting 
away  from  encumbrances.  Failure  to  do  this 
in  the  church  in  many  instances  constitute  the 
handicap  of  modern  Protestantism.  Every 
minister  who  goes  forth  presumably  to  win 
men  to  a  Christian  life  carries  a  vast  amount 
of  excess  baggage  which  hinders  him  from 
reaching  his  goal.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  if  the 
church  had  freed  itself  from  these  encum¬ 
brances  many  of  which  it  has  permitted  itself 
to  drag  down  through  the  last  three  hundred 
years,  it  could  have  occupied  a  position  to-day 
which  would  have  made  present  world  condi¬ 
tions  impossible.  But  it  is  not  too  late  to  re¬ 
pair  the  wrong,  to  retrace  our  steps  and  sit  at 
the  feet  of  Him  who  during  His  life  of  serv¬ 
ice  and  sacrifice  took  occasion  to  call  the  atten¬ 
tion  of  the  world  to  a  self-evident  truth,  “The 
children  of  this  world  are  wiser  than  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  light.” 

WHAT  THIS  WORLD  MOVEMENT  WOULD  MEAN 

At  first,  it  would  appeal  to  different  minds 
in  different  ways,  and  to  some  it  might  not 
appeal  at  all,  or  it  would  seem  to  be  the  shat¬ 
tering  of  all  their  hopes  and  the  end  of  all 
their  dreams.  Such,  however,  have  never  pon¬ 
dered  the  Divine  utterance,  “Behold,  I  make 


54 


all  thing’s  new,”  nor  have  they  felt  the  positive 
urge  toward  higher  and  better  things.  Per¬ 
haps  they  have  never  read  those  striking  words 
of  Phillips  Brooks:  “It  would  seem  as  though 
there  ought  to  be  in  the  world  three  kinds  of 
men — the  men  of  forms,  the  men  of  ideals  and 
the  men  of  unlimited  ideals,  which  are  the 
ideals  of  God — and  these  three  kinds  of  men 
are  easy  to  discover.  First,  there  are  the  men 
of  forms,  who  in  their  questionings  about  what 
they  have  done,  or  ought  to  do,  never  get  be¬ 
yond  formal  standards,  the  opinions  of  other 
people,  accepted  precedents — they  never  ask 
what  is  best  and  loftiest,  never  what  are  the 
intrinsic  relations  of  the  Father  God  and  the 
Man  Child.  Only  this — By  what  religious 
observance  can  a  man  get  into  heaven?  Of 
course,  no  vision  haunts  a  man  like  that;  he 
lives  in  self-content  of  visible  results  or  failure 
and  knows  no  disappointment.” 

The  second  kind  of  man  is  the  one  who  asks 
himself  whether  his  deed  is  what  it  ought  to 
be,  it  matters  not  whether  men  praise  it  or 
not;  and  another  question  is  asked.  Does  it 
conform  to  what  he  knew  it  ought  to  before 
he  understood  it?  Here  is  a  man  of  true 
idealism.  He  has  seen  the  vision  and  is  not 
satisfied  because  he  has  not  gone  toward  it. 


But  the  third  man;  his  life  is  the  only  satis¬ 
factory  one;  he  believes  that  the  idea  of  his 
life,  the  perfect  plan,  the  successful  issue  of  it 
all,  is  already  in  the  mind  of  God — and  his 
aim  is  to  produce  the  highest  and  best,  not 
simply  to  carry  out  his  own  idea,  but  carry 
God’s  idea  to  the  world.” 

Unfortunately  for  any  great  movement,  the 
great  mass  of  men  belong  to  the  first  order 
“men  of  forms,”  who  are  this,  that  or  the 
other  thing,  in  society,  politics  and  religion, 
because  their  ancestors  were  so  before  them, 
or  because  their  immediate  surroundings  dic¬ 
tate  their  law  of  living;  from  these  a  great 
movement  need  not  expect  recognition,  much 
less  cooperation;  they  are  men  who  own  a 
palace  but  are  content  to  live  in  the  basement. 

The  second  kind  of  man  is  a  man  of  reflec¬ 
tion,  anxious  thought  and  vision;  to  such  a 
man  of  great  reforms  always  appeals;  such 
men  are  able  and  willing  to  make  their  contri¬ 
bution  to  their  success;  they  are  men  who  live 
in  the  second  story  of  their  dwellings  and  real¬ 
ize  that  there  are  still  higher  places  to  inhabit. 

The  third  kind  of  man  is  the  one  who  places 
no  limits  to  the  power  of  God,  or  the  work  of 
human  hands;  he  believes  that  man  and  God 
not  only  may,  but  that  they  do  “work  to¬ 
gether;”  he  is  the  man  who  lives  in  the  third 


56 


story,  where  there  is  a  skylight  which  looks 
out  upon  unlimited  space  of  opportunity  and 
glory.  To  such  men  THE  OVERTHROW 
OF  PROTESTANTISM  as  it  exists  to-day, 
or  the  overthrow  of  any  existing  human  insti¬ 
tution  will  suggest  the  possibilities  of  greater 
and  better  things,  a  larger  and  better  life. 

CAN  WE  AFFORD  TO  DISARM? 

In  such  a  discussion  we  might  hope  to  avoid 
such  a  question,  but  as  surely  as  you  try  to 
avoid  it  you  are  at  last  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  real  nature  of  this  familiar  term 
“PROTESTANTISM;”  it  reminds  us  that 
we  started  out  four  hundred  years  ago  to  pro¬ 
test  and  to  wage  war  upon  certain  forms,  cere¬ 
monies  and  creeds  which  at  that  remote  period, 
and  for  many  vears  later,  enslaved  die  minds 
and  consciences  of  millions  of  people  who  felt 
that  they  ought  and  had  a  right  to  be  free,  who 
wished  rather  to  be  “justified  by  faith”  than  to 
be  saved  by  good  works.  We  may  talk  of 
“great  wars;”  this  has  been  the  greatest  of  all, 
because  it  has  been  the  longest,  and  because 
it  has  not  onlv  wasted  much  of  the  world’s 
money,  time  and  manhood,  but  it  has  jeop¬ 
ardized  millions  of  immortal  souls  by  fostering 
uncertainty  and  doubt  it  has  reduced  the  stat- 


57 


ure  of  spiritual  manhood;  has  retarded  the 
world’s  progress  in  the  work  of  human  re¬ 
demption:  has  blurred  the  vision  of  the  souls 
of  men  and  stunted  the  growth  of  useful 
knowledge.  It  has  left  Christendom  disunited 
and  weak  to  grapple  with  the  great  problems 
of  the  twentieth  century.  Whilst  in  certain 
quarters  we  have  declared  an  armistice,  we 
have  not  yet  disarmed  for  a  lasting  peace. 

That  is  just  what  the  OVERTHROW 
OF  MANY  EXISTING  CONDITIONS 
means — the  disarmament  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  preparation  for  a  permanent  peace. 
It  means  also  the  exchange  of  cooperation 
for  rivalry;  fundamentals  in  exchange  for 
shifting  creeds;  concrete  action  for  scattered 
forces  and  unity  for  discord.  A  settled  faith, 
instead  of  a  “sea  of  conjecture.”  Central  or¬ 
ganization  in  the  place  of  lost  motion  and 
energy.  A  supremely  great  leadership  to 
guide  a  great  movement  worthy  of  the  age 
we  live  in,  commanding  the  support  and  ad¬ 
miration  of  the  world. 

THE  MOST  URGENT  NEED  OF  A  NEW  WORLD 

There  was  a  time,  fifty  years  ago,  when  it 
was  thought  that  the  churches  of  Protestant¬ 
ism  would  unite  in  part  at  least  to  meet  what 


58 


prophetic  minds  termed  k‘a  great  future  for 
unity;”  just  what  that  future  contained,  no 
one  dared  to  predict,  hut  the  last  few  years 
covering  the  period  of  war  and  partial  recon¬ 
struction  have  disclosed  to  this  generation 
what  the  previous  one  never  dreamed  of.  The 
greatest  institution  of  the  world,  the  one  de¬ 
signed  for  just  such  an  age  as  ours,  is  found 
almost  helpless  to  prevent  or  cure  the  fatal 
ills  of  a  disheartened  race.  And  why?  Not 
because  Protestantism,  as  a  more  or  less  neces¬ 
sary  force  came  into  existence,  but  because  it 
has  been  permitted  to  outlive  its  usefulness, 
because  we  have  gone  on  protesting  against 
non-essentials  when  we  should  have  been  serv¬ 
ing  and  saving  men,  because  the  Church  has 
not  addressed  itself  to  the  great  problems  of 
the  age,  nor  has  it  been  in  a  position  to  do  so. 

ANOTHER  OPPORTUNITY  IS  APPROACHING 

What  the  nature  of  the  next  great  oppor¬ 
tunity  to  confront  Protestantism  will  be  is 
only  a  matter  of  surmise.  We  do  know, 
however,  that  at  this  writing,  conditions  in 
Europe,  in  the  Far  East  and  all  over  the 
world  are  by  no  means  reassuring;  even  the 
suggestion  of  another  war  sends  a  shudder 
through  the  social  body.  If  we  could  banish 


59 


the  word  and  all  that  it  implies  from  our  minds 
forever,  we  could  then  utter  a  long  sigh  of  re¬ 
lief.  This  distressed,  beggared  and  haunted 
world  needs  one  thing  infinitely  more  than 
it  needs  anything  else;  that  is  PEACE — per¬ 
manent  and  enduring  peace,  the  peace  which 
comes  bv  the  surrender  of  the  minds  and  wills 
of  men  to  the  best  and  highest  things,  the 
peace  which  is  wrapped  up  in  the  words,  “He 
will  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is 
stayed  upon  God.” 

But  we  will  suppose  that  the  next  and  great 
opportunity  to  present  itself  to  the  church  is 
nothing  more  than  to  gather  up  the  fragments 
and  out  of  them  build  the  ruined  temple,  to 
build  again  the  walls  which  have  been  thrown 
down,  the  rebuild  the  City  of  God,  to  refix  the 
throne  of  his  rule  and  authority  in  human  lives. 
Surely,  this  is  a  Herculean  task  demanding 
every  ounce  of  energy,  every  particle  of 
strength,  all  the  vision  and  faith  represented, 
not  only  in  Protestantism,  but  in  every  com¬ 
munion  of  Christendom,  in  a  United  Church. 

For  a  task  like  this  we  shall  need  the  very 
things  we  seem  to  lack ;  we  shall  require 
breadth  of  vision,  unity  of  purpose  and  action, 
a  solid  front,  a  complete  organization  and  su¬ 
preme  leadership ;  these  can  never  be  ours 


60 


until  we  stop  protesting  against  non-essentials 
and  unite  upon  the  fundamentals  of  our  faith. 

IF  WE  SHOULD  FAIL,  WHAT? 

Christianity  is  on  trial  to-day  before  1,500,- 
000,000  non  Christians,  the  hope  of  the  world  is 
reposing  in  the  hands  of  a  small  minority  of 
this  great  human  mass.  We  may  well  exclaim: 
“What  are  these  few  among  so  great  a  mul¬ 
titude?”  But  if  these  are  closely  related 
to  Christ  and  united  together  by  the  golden 
bonds  of  Christian  fellowship  they  are  suffi¬ 
cient  for  the  task  equal  to  any  emergency  and 
invincible  in  the  presence  of  any  world  prob¬ 
lem,  any  human  foe. 

If  in  the  next  half  century  the  church  fails 
to  measure  up  to  her  great  opportunity,  if  she 
should  prove  unfit  or  unable  to  control  the 
passions  of  men  and  the  pessimism  of  the 
world  by  the  splendid  optimism  of  her  faith, 
then  she  is  doomed  to  be  put  through  another 
fiery  furnace  of  persecution  to  refine  her  gold 
and  destroy  its  dross.  To  escape  this  possible 
failure  and  the  righteous  indignation  of  an 
offended  God,  there  is  one  course  she  must 
pursue,  that  is  to  rid  herself  of  the  weight 
of  unnecessary  burdens  and  the  sin  of  indif¬ 
ference  to  the  larger  matters  of  the  Kingdom. 


61 


"consistency,  thou  akt  a  jewel" 

In  the  realm  of  material  things  we  might 
expect  to  find  a  degree  of  inconsistency,  hut 
who  would  have  dreamed,  standing  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Jordan  listening  to  the  simple 
words  of  the  Christ  and  beholding  their  effect 
upon  the  minds  of  the  twelve  first  disciples, 
that  his  followers  in  years  to  come  would  take 
those  same  truths  and  out  of  them  build  up  a 
system  of  religion  as  diversified  and  complex 
as  the  varied  doctrines  of  the  Christian  church 
of  the  twentieth  century?  Nor  could  it  have 
been  forseen  that  these  doctrines  would  have 
resulted  in  such  a  tangled  mass  of  teachings, 
claiming  to  be  the  gospel  of  the  Gallilean. 

Then  there  is  that  terrible  spectacle  cover¬ 
ing  a  period  of  hundreds  of  years,  relieved 
only  by  fierce  presecution,  illuminated  by  the 
flames  of  martyrdom  drenched  with  human 
blood.  But  more  fatal  than  all  these  have  been 
the  prejudices  of  the  church  in  modem  times, 
when  Councils,  Conferences  and  Synods  have 
met  with  the  announced  purpose  of  extending 
the  ONE  KINGDOM  and  fostering  unity 
through  other  denominational  effort  and  have 
ended  by  building  longer  and  higher  walls  of 
separation,  widening  the  breach  between  each 
other.  Churches  have  been  erected,  ministers 


62 


ordained,  denominations  formed,  creeds  con¬ 
structed  and  doctrines  built  up,  under  forms 
of  diplomacy  and  avowals  of  unity  which  have 
had,  if  not  as  their  purpose  certainly  as  their 
end,  the  spirit  of  rivalry  and  denominational 
glory. 


IN  THIS  AGE  OF  BROTHERHOOD,  FEDERA¬ 
TION  AND  CO-OPERATION  TWO  HUN¬ 
DRED  MILLIONS  OF  CHRISTIANS  ARE 
DISTINGUISHED  AND  KNOWN  BY  A 
NAME,  WHICH  HAVING  SERVED  ITS 
ORIGINAL  PURPOSE,  IS  NO  LONGER  IN 
HARMONY  WITH  THE  AIMS  AND  IDEALS 
OF  MODERN  CHRISTIANITY. 


The  men  who  shall  weld  together 

THE  EXISTING  FORCES  OF  “PROT¬ 
ESTANTISM”  AND  GIVE  THEM  A  NAME 
ACCEPTABLE  TO  THESE  MILLIONS 
AND  IN  KEEPING  WITH  THE  HIGHEST 
AND  ULTIMATE  AIMS  OF  THE  CHRIS¬ 
TIAN  RELIGION  WILL  MERIT  A  PLACE 
AMONG  THE  IMMORTALS. 


CHAPTER  IV 

WE  KNOW  THE  DISEASE 
WHAT  IS  THE  CURE? 


WE  KNOW  THE  DISEASE 
WHAT  IS  THE  CURE? 

TO  remedy  these  long  existing  evils  would 
not  be  a  fruitless  task  if  we  could  bring 
men  to  reason  and  act  in  accord  with  the 
simple  gospel,  and  if  you  ask  me  what  I  mean 
by  the  “simple  gospel,”  I  reply,  those  plain 
utterances  and  teachings  of  Christ  which  set 
forth  the  person  and  mind  of  God,  the  rela¬ 
tions  of  man  to  his  Maker  or  Father,  the 
Divine  plan  of  human  redemption  and  the  cer¬ 
tainty  of  a  future  life.  If  concerning  these 
there  are  any  uncertainty  or  doubt;  if  they 
have  been  modified  or  altered  to  suit  any  hu¬ 
man  doctrine,  creed,  institution  or  church,  it  is 
because  the  mind  of  man  is  not  in  harmony 
or  consistent  with  the  will  of  God.  Therefore, 
the  slogan  of  Protestantism  should  be  “Back 
to  the  Mind  of  God.” 

A  CROWD  OF  OBJECTORS 

A  legion  of  well  meaning  people  will  rise  up 
to  follow  their  usual  method  of  “protesting,” 
good  men  without  doubt,  but  mistaken  men 
with  great  zeal,  but  not  according  to  knowl¬ 
edge,  men  of  vision  but  extremely  limited,  men 
of  faith  but  more  faith  in  human  imperfect- 
minded  agencies  than  in  Divine  power,  and 


69 


then  there  is  that  other  motley  crowd  whose 
selfish  outlook  upon  the  world  obscures  the 
great  purposes  of  God.  Together  they  form 
a  formidable  barrier,  but  together  they  will  be 
swept  away  by  the  rising  tide  of  vital  Chris¬ 
tianity  which  they  are  unconsciously  attempt¬ 
ing  to  hold  back. 

Here  is  the  man  who  has  centered  his 
thought  upon  the  purely  spiritual  aspect  of 
religion,  he  will  exclaim  with  great  unction 
that  you  must  not  place  spiritual  forces  under 
temporal  rule,  that  the  church  must  remain 
free  from  human  interference  and  he  will  con¬ 
front  vou  with  the  text,  “The  natural  man  is 
not  able  to  discern  spiritual  things.”  It  is 
almost  futile  to  remind  such  a  one  that  the 
testimony  of  all  ages  is  against  him ;  that  how¬ 
ever  true  it  may  be  that  God  is  able  to  work 
without  human  agencies,  He  never  has;  that 
natural  laws  operate  in  the  spiritual  world, 
that  our  aim  is  not  to  humanize  religion  but  to 
SPIRITUALIZE  HUMAN  EFFORTS 
and  the  means  by  which  they  are  put  forth; 
that  Christianity  does  not  dehumanize  human 
nature  or  effort,  but  spiritualizes  both. 

We  shall  next  be  confronted  by  the  man 
who  is  an  ardent  advocate  of  so-called  personal 
liberty,  who  will  tell  us  that  central  organiza¬ 
tion  and  supreme  authority  are  the  twin 


70 


enemies  of  religion  and  always  have  been,  that 

such  a  course  would  lead  to  mental  slavery  and 

•/ 

spiritual  decadence;  that  it  would  defeat  the 
aims  of  the  Reformation  and  relegate  the 
church  to  certain  failure. 

In  the  first  place,  we  must  be  sure  that  it 
is  liberty  we  need.  Have  we  made  the  best  use 
of  that  which  we  have  gained?  Has  the  church 
made  the  greatest  progress  under  this  wonder¬ 
ful  freedom  she  has  enjoyed?  Are  we  not 
mistaking  license  for  true  liberty?  And  is  it 
not  after  all  RESTRAINT  THAT  THE 
WORLD  AND  THE  CHURCH  needs  to¬ 
day?  Shall  we  not  find  the  broadest  liberty  in 
cooperation,  in  unity,  in  a  more  complete  or¬ 
ganization  and  a  wiser  leadership  ?  But  it  may 
be  claimed  that  our  plan  will  interfere  with 
and  limit  the  influence  and  curtail  the  rights 
of  the  local  church,  that  a  self-governing  body 
will  never  yield  to  supreme  authority.  If  this 
be  true  then  it  must  follow  that  these  self-gov¬ 
erning  bodies  are  doomed  to  remain  what  they 
now  are,  or  decline  into  inefficiency  and  de¬ 
cay,  since  the  greatest  institutions  of  the  past 
and  the  most  powerful  ones  of  the  present  are 
those  coming  under  the  benignant  sway  of 
central  organization  and  supreme  authority. 

Leaving  the  States  for  foreign  lands,  one  of 
the  last  reminders  of  our  national  greatness  is 


71 


the  Statue  of  Liberty  at  the  entrance  of  New 
York  harbor,  always  noted  with  pride  by 
every  American — The  Emblem  of  National 
Liberty. 

Entering  the  great  capitol  of  the  Old  World 
the  Englishman  will  point  with  pride  to  his 
Parliament  Buildings  and  will  remind  you 
that  this  is  the  MOTHER  OF  PARLIA¬ 
MENTS  and,  together,  these  two  monuments 
remind  you  of  the  two  greatest  civilizations 
the  world  has  yet  seen.  But,  if  you  reflect 
for  an  instant  you  will  understand  that  the 
Federal  Government  of  the  one  and  the  Na¬ 
tional  Government  of  the  other  constitute  the 
most  complete  form  of  central  organization 
known  to  modern  times.  Representative 
Government?  Yes;  but  of  such  a  nature  that 
in  times  of  national  or  international  trouble, 
as  during  the  late  War,  they  could  command 
all  the  resources  of  their  respective  countries 
for  one  common  end  to  which  their  citizens 
yielded  willing  aid  because  every  sensible  man 
knew  that  in  unity  there  is  strength,  in  cen¬ 
tralized  power  there  is  victory.  The  central 
organization  of  Christendom  would  no  more 
interfere  with  local  conditions  of  the  church 
than  the  Federal  Government  meddles  with 
State  affairs  or  these  in  turn  retard  the 


72 


progress  of  our  cities,  and  if  God  has  given 
success  to  the  one  He  will  put  his  seal  of  ap¬ 
proval  upon  the  other. 

WHAT  IS  THE  SUPREME  COURT  OE  THE  UNITED 

STATES? 

It  has  often  been  said,  and  we  are  proud  to 
believe  that  it  is,  generally  speaking,  true, 
that  the  American  people  as  a  whole  can  he 
trusted  to  decide  great  questions.  It  is  also  a 
sign  of  good  common  sense  that  we  do  not 
always  follow  that  course.  For  instance,  we 
have  a  great  and  famous  document  which  we 
reverently  speak  of  as  “The  CONSTITU¬ 
TION”  which,  for  the  most  part,  is  so  simple 
and  plain  that  he  who  runs  may  read  and 
understand  it,  but  there  are  portions  of  this 
valuable  instrument  which  even  some  of  the 
great  legal  lights  of  the  centuries  have  had  to 
study  long  and  hard  upon  before  they  could 
coordinate  them  with  the  laws  of  the  State  and 
the  rights  of  the  individual. 

For  this  purpose  and  other  obvious  reasons 
we  have  in  our  midst  “The  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States.”  This  institution, 
among  the  greatest  in  the  World,  is  the  last 
Court  of  Appeal,  the  supreme  authority,  the 


78 


highest  Tribunal  of  OUR  COUNTRY  which 
claims  to  be  the  Land  of  the  greatest  personal 
liberty. 

Here,  then,  is  a  modern  nation  of  a  little 
more  than  100,000,000  population  which  for 
the  highest  good  of  its  people  maintains  an 
institution  which  we  all  believe  in  and  approve 
and  which  we  cannot  well  get  along  without. 

But  here,  also,  is  a  strange  condition  of 
things.  An  institution  called  PROTEST¬ 
ANTISM,  with  nearly  twice  as  many  souls 
under  its  care,  with  not  only  human  but  also 
Divine  and  Spiritual  interests  at  stake,  coming 
down  through  the  centuries,  groping  its  way 
along  a  path  illuminated  by  hundreds  of  flick¬ 
ering  lights,  guided  or  often  misguided  by 
thousands  of  professed  leaders,  without  CEN¬ 
TRAL  ORGANIZATION,  without  a  last 
Court  of  Appeals,  save  the  Bible,  out  of  which 
have  been  woven  doctrines  and  creeds,  prophe¬ 
sies  and  dreams  which  have  dismembered  the 

body  of  its  Founder. 

* 

A  SUPREME  HEAD  NEEDED 

The  two  great  nations  to  which  the  rest  of 
the  world  is  looking  for  deliverance  from  all 
its  rampant  evils  and  the  solution  of  many  of 
its  vexed  problems,  each  have  a  Supreme 
Head  to  their  Government.  And  what  for? 


74 


To  dictate  to  their  peoples?  To  control 
public  opinion  and  trample  upon  public 
rights?  Certainly  not.  In  this  idea  of  su¬ 
preme  authority  we  have  progressed  as  in 
other  things.  Authority  to-day  must  be 
paternal;  it  must  be  constructive,  its  chief 
functions  are  to  guide  and  guard  the  thought 
and  actions  of  men,  to  limit  power  only  where 
it  is  improperly  or  impiously  used,  to  pro¬ 
claim  liberty  and  maintain  freedom  for  all  who 
observe  the  law  and  carry  it  to  a  logical  and 
legitimate  issue-  The  only  man  who  needs 
fear  supreme  leadership  and  authority  to-day 
is  the  selfish  man,  the  man  who  is  either  mor¬ 
ally  blind,  degenerate  or  bigoted.  But  the 
man  of  vision,  breadth  of  mind,  tolerance, 
Faith  and  self-sacrifice  need  have  no  more  fear 
of  authority  vested  in  his  fellow  man  than  he 
has  of  the  supreme  attributes  of  God. 

A  GROUP  OF  STARTLING  FACTS 

How  long  this  planet  has  actually  existed  in 
material  form  is  a  matter  of  scientific  conjec¬ 
ture,  but,  for  six  thousand  years  it  has  re¬ 
volved  before  the  wondering  gaze  of  man,  each 
new  cycle  has  revealed  some  new  feature  of  its 
increasing  richness  and  glory.  What  the  Cre¬ 
ator  pronounced  good  has  become  better  and 


greater  with  succeding  ages.  Every  gener¬ 
ation  has  added  a  little  to  the  sum  and  total 
of  material  granduer.  Science  and  discovery, 
art  and  literature,  genius  and  skill,  all  have 
made  their  contributions  to  human  knowledge 
and  Divine  revelation,  some  have  gone  so  far 
as  to  assert  that  these  human  factors  have 
reached,  or  are  nearing  the  apex  of  their  pos¬ 
sible  achievements.  Certain  it  is  that  they 
have  passed  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  our  wild¬ 
est  dreams,  and  that  we  behold  all  around  us 
a  world  filled  with  the  greatest  monuments, 
the  richest  natural  resources  adorned  with 
beauty,  guided  with  strength  and  peopled  by 
human  beings  conscious  of  their  heritage,  keen 
in  their  appreciation  of  their  resources, 
equipped  with  strength  sufficient  to  turn  this 
world  into  a  heap  of  ruins  or  to  make  it  a  fit 
habitation  for  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

The  remaining  facts  are  these:  For  four 
thousand  of  the  six  thousand  years  God  ex¬ 
erted  His  Divine  power  over  man  by  trying 
to  persuade,  urge  and  impel  men  to  yield  their 
wills  to  His.  By  providence,  paternal  thought 
and  prophesy  the  great  Divine  campaign  for 
human  redemption  went  forward,  until  at  last 
the  plan  matured  revealed  itself  in  all  its 
supernal  splendor  and  broke  upon  the  earth  in 
the  Incarnation,  under  the  guidance  of  the  star, 


76 


the  accompaniment  of  song,  the  wondering 
gaze  of  the  shepherds  and  the  scrutinizing  eyes 
of  the  wise  men  of  the  East.  Then  men  learned 
the  secret  of  it  all — 

GOD  HAD  COME  HIMSELF 

in  the  person  of  His  Son  to  offer  the  world  a 
plan  of  world-wide  redemption  upon  the 
simplest  and  easiest  terms  consistent  with  so 
great  an  offer,  made  by  so  tremendous  a  sacri¬ 
fice,  and,  strange  to  relate,  the  Christ  devoted 
almost  as  much  time  and  suffering  in  trying 
to  explain  the  SIMPLICITY  of  the  plan 
as  he  did  to  unfold  the  plan  itself.  Two 
thousand  years  have  rolled  by,  years  filled 
with  discussion,  heavy  with  self-imposed  bur¬ 
dens,  wet  with  tears  and  stained  by  blood 
chiefly  because,  whilst  God  is  all  for  simplicity, 
but  man  moves  toward  complexity.  Truth  is 
always  plain,  but  man’s  interpretations  are 
involved.  Christ  is  all  justice  and  mercy. 
His  professed  followers  are  too  often  unjust 
and  cruel.  God  is  ready  to  forgive,  man  will 
not  bury  the  hatchet.  True  Christianity  is 
Service,  mankind  is  selfish.  Christ,  for  the 
good  of  His  great  cause,  surrendered  every¬ 
thing  ;  we  will  not  surrender,  not  even  our  pre¬ 
conceived  ideas,  to  the  will  of  God-  The  great 
question  before  Protestantism  to-day  is  this: 


77 


SHALL  WE  UNITE  FOR  SELF-PRESERVATION  AND 
THE  WORLD'S  REDEMPTION  ? 

Remember,  we  are  not  asking  this  question. 
It  is  being  put  squarely  up  to  the  Church  by  a 
suffering  humanity,  weary  of  waiting  for  the 
dawn  of  a  brighter  and  better  day.  How  can 
we  resist  the  appeal  of  a  war-stricken  world 
for  the  best  we  can  give  it  in  its  struggle  to 
regain  prosperity  and  peace;  we  tremble  to 
think  that  the  millions  who  died  on  the  battle¬ 
field  and  those  other  millions  who,  maimed  and 
blind,  people  the  earth,  were  sacrificed  in  vain, 
and  that  having  sown  to  the  wind  we  are  reap¬ 
ing  the  whirlwind.  But  sadder  still  is  the  re¬ 
flection  that  these  newly  made  graves,  these 
blighted  hopes  and  falling  tears,  these  sight¬ 
less  eyes,  this  despairing  world  turns  to  the 
Church  and  pleads  in  vain  for  a  new  hope  and 
a  renewed  life. 

Not  all  the  councils,  conferences  or  diplo¬ 
mats  of  the  world  can  hold  back  the  storm 
gathering  in  the  Far  East  and  which  is  travel¬ 
ing  due  West.  We  have  yet  to  learn  in  sorrow 
that  civilization  does  not  civilize,  precepts  do 
not  save  and  truth  becomes  sounding  brass  and 
tinkling  symbols  unless  supported  by  ex¬ 
ample;  that  as  a  factory  is  known  by  the  kind 
of  goods  it  places  on  the  markets,  so  the 


78 


Church  will  only  be  known  by  the  character  of 

its  work  and  the  unity  of  its  power  in  doing  it. 

Unless  we  can  accompany  our  governments 

by  the  efforts  of  a  united  Christendom  and 
•/ 

demonstrate  that  what  we  offer  the  East  has 
saved  the  West,  our  Western  civilization  will 
never  capture  the  world  for  Christ.  The  solu¬ 
tion  of  many  of  the  world  problems  is  in  the 
affirmative  answer  of  the  great  question  which 
confronts  the  Church. 

IX  UNITY  THERE  IS  PERFECT  STRENGTH  AND 

COMPLETE  VICTORY 

History  affirms  this,  human  progress  has 
demonstrated  it,  experience  has  taught  it  and 
big  business  has  illustrated  it.  What  is 
more,  the  Church  knows  it.  Strange  to  say, 
we  have  been  preaching  it  for  two  thousand 
years,  yet  how  sparingly  we  have  practiced  it. 
Here  and  there  we  have  tried  the  experiment, 
if  such  it  can  be  called.  Now  the  hour  has 
come  for  a  whole-hearted  adoption  of  these 
methods  to  save  ourselves  and  to  redeem  hu¬ 
manity. 

It  will  mean  sacrifice,  it  will  call  for  self- 
abnegation,  it  will  result  in  our  ‘'looking  less 
upon  our  own  things  and  more  upon  the  things 
of  others.”  It  may  wrench  our  minds  and 


79 


torture  our  thoughts  a  little.  It  will  cause  a 
new  language  to  spring  up  in  our  conversa¬ 
tion,  one  with  the  other.  “Our  Church”  will 
give  place  to  “the  Church.”  “Isms”  will  be 
forgotten  in  the  presence  of  “communion  and 
fellowship.”  Creeds  will  count  for  little  and 
character  will  be  supreme.  Opinions  will  not 
count  for  much  when  principles  are  at  stake, 
and,  like  the  ship  described  by  Kipling  in  one 
of  his  poems,  the  Church  will  have  found  itself 
in  the  harmonious  working  of  all  its  parts  and 
will  settle  down  to  the  rhythm  produced  by 
conscious  unified  power. 

We  are  not  pleading  for  the  overthrow  of 
anything  which  has  earned  the  right  to  remain. 
We  dare  not  suggest  the  sacrifice  of  one 
thought  which  has  had  its  origin  in  the  mind 
of  God.  We  plead  for  no  surrender  impos¬ 
sible  to  be  made.  But  in  the  presence  and 
name  of  Him  who  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be 
equal  with  God  but  made  Himself  of  no  repu¬ 
tation,  we  do  plead  with  the  disunited  forces 
of  Christendom  to  cast  from  them  those  things 
which  are  keeping  one  communion  out  of  real 
vital  fellowship  with  the  other.  To  overthrow 
this  intangible  SOMETHING  which  ob¬ 
scures  the  presence  of  the  CHRIST,  retards 
the  coming  of  His  Kingdom  and  hinders  hu- 


80 


man  progress  from  reaching  its  highest  ambi¬ 
tion  to  be  One,  as  the  Son  and  the  Father  are 
One. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  TOMORROW 

We  have  pictured  it  and  boasted  about  it 
for  half  a  century  but,  like  tomorrow  itself, 
the  church  of  tomorrow  has  not  materialized. 
But  it  must  and  it  will  come.  It  cannot  be 
too  often  stated  that  even  the  OVER¬ 
THROW  OF  PROTESTANTISM  would 
not  mean  the  FAILURE  OF  CHRIS¬ 
TIANITY,  for  it  is  self-evident  that  the  one 
is  the  imperfect  and  distorted  symbol  of  the 
other. 

At  no  great  distant  period  of  the  world’s 
history  we  shall  see  not  another  institution 
but  a  rebuilt  Christian  Church  adapted  to  the 
growing  and  increasing  needs  of  progress  and 
advancement  all  down  the  ages.  Of  this  we  are 
sure:  the  Gospel  and  its  Auther  have  kept 
pace  with  every  century,  met  the  demands  of 
every  epoch,  supplied  the  needs  of  every  soul, 
clear  down  to  our  own  times,  and  there  is  no 
condition  of  civilization  of  which  we  can  dream 
in  which  God  is  likely  to  fail  us,  or,  as  the 
hymn  expresses  it : 


81 


“earth  has  no  sorrow  that  heaven  cannot 

HEAL” 

The  church  of  tomorrow  must  take  its  stand 
upon  what  Gladstone  aptly  termed  “The 
IMPREGNABLE  ROCK  OF  HOLY 
SCRIPTURE,”  and  not  upon  the  shifting 
foundations  of  human  opinions  and  creeds. 
Its  super-structure  must  be  built  according 
to  what  Phillips  Brooks  so  beautifully  de¬ 
scribed  as  “THE  PATTERN  SEEN  IN 
THE  MOUNT.”  It  must  have  central  or¬ 
ganization  in  the  place  of  separate  and  dis¬ 
tinct  powers,  by  which  all  its  resources  of  men 
and  millions  may  be  marshalled  like  the  ONE 
GREAT  BODY  AND  FORCE  IT 
SHOULD  BE  ,  so  that  in  epoch-making 
periods  of  history  it  can  take  its  place  as  a 
moulder  of  opinion  and  a  creator  of  condi¬ 
tions  for  the  safety  of  mankind. 

It  must  have  a  leadership  great  and  good 
enough,  devout  and  spiritual  enough  to  con¬ 
stitute  a  Supreme  Authority  to  which  its  ad¬ 
herents  will  yield  willingly  and  loving  al¬ 
legiance. 

It  must  adopt  a  creed  as  broad  as  the  Gos¬ 
pel,  as  liberal  as  the  mind  of  God  and  as 
charitable  as  the  mind  of  Christ,  permitting 


82 


of  one  interpretation,  consistent  with  the  will 
of  the  Father. 

It  must  redeem  the  time  already  lost  in 
protest  and  dissension  by  diving  deeper  into 
the  UNDERWORLD  OF  SIN  and  demon¬ 
strating  that  it  is  able  and  willing  to  carry  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature.  It  must  cause  the 
lie  to  die  upon  the  lips  of  its  critics,  when  they 
sav  that  Christianity  is  a  failure. 

It  must  raze  to  the  ground  every  wall  big¬ 
otry  has  built  up.  It  must  rend  again  the  veil 
which  separates  the  living  church  from  dying 
men.  It  must  restore  to  its  ministry  that  de¬ 
voutness,  frankness,  boldness,  humility  and 
faith  which  characterized  it  in  apostolic  days 
and  which  will  again  liberate  it  from  time, 
service,  fear  or  fatality. 

It  must  somehow  impress  the  world  with 
the  idea  that  it  is  dead  in  earnest,  desperately 
anxious  and  positively  determined  to  place 
the  standard  of  the  Cross  above  every  emblem 
of  power  and  prowess. 

With  such  a  Church,  and  such  a  type  of 
Christianity,  we  might  hope  to  see  again  re¬ 
productions  of  men  like  Paul  and  Luther, 
Spurgeon  and  Brooks,  men  who  may  have 
thought  much  of  creeds  but  more  of  Christ, 
who  were  Princes  in  the  Church,  but  who  were 
also  heirs  of  a  great  Kingdom. 


83 


With  such  a  Church  we  may  not  have  as 
many  handshaking  and  card-signing  conver¬ 
sions,  but  we  shall  witness  innumerable  lives 
“transformed  into  the  image  of  the  Christ.” 
We  shall  not  have  as  much  song  singing,  but 
we  shall  see  more  men  living  in  sweet  harmony 
with  the  Divine  will. 

With  the  coming  of  such  a  Church,  there 
will  be  “one  fold  and  one  shepherd”  one  great 
purpose  and  peace  will  wrap  humanity  around 
like  a  mantle  of  glory  for  the  Church  will 
have  put  on  her  beautiful  garments. 

Are  we  willing  to  make  the  sacrifice,  pay  the 
price  and  live  the  life  for  such  a  tomorrow  and 
such  a  CHURCH? 

CAN  PROTESTANTISM  BE  OVERTHROWN ? 

If  we  mistake  for  Protestantism  the  funda¬ 
mentals,  the  eternal  verities  of  Divine  Truth 
or  any  part  of  that  Gospel  essential  to  human 
redemption,  we  answer,  No! — easier  to  over¬ 
throw  the  Pyramids  or  Alps ! 

Or,  if  we  mean  churches  which  furnish  dif¬ 
ferent  fields  of  activity  and  Christian  service 
adapted  to  the  varied  needs  of  communities 
and  people,  neither  can  these  be  dispensed 
with,  at  least,  not  so  long  as  social  conditions 
remain  as  they  are. 


84 


Certainly,  Christianity  is  in  no  danger  of 
overthrow,  since  it  is  the  only  hope  of  the 
world,  and  its  Founder  the  “WAY,  THE 
TRUTH  AND  THE  LIFE”  by  which 
every  soul  attains  its  final  destiny. 

WHAT,  THEN,  MUST  BE  SACRIFICED? 

We  must  discard  the  name  and  the  weak¬ 
ness  of  that  institution  which  came  into  being 
at  a  time  when  the  Church  as  it  then  existed 
needed  purification  and  reform,  an  institution 
which  has  served  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
founded,  but  in  doing  so  has  often  strewn  its 
pathway  with  thorns  and  thistles,  instead  of 
the  beauty  and  fragrance  of  Love.  We  must 
fling  from  us  any  name  or  creed,  preju¬ 
dice  or  bigotry  which  will  dismember  THE 
CHURCH,  the  Body  of  Christ.  We  must 
conserve  the  time,  energy,  wealth  and  faith  of 
the  Church  by  coordinating  them  into  one 
great  central  force  to  carry  out  the  avowed 
aims  of  Christianity.  We  must  stop  protest¬ 
ing  against  differences  which  do  not  exist  or, 
which,  if  they  do  exist,  are  not  opposed  to  the 
fundamental  principles  of  faith.  We  must 
seek  after  and  establish  leadership  capable  of 
commanding  the  respect  and  loyalty  of  a 
UNITED  CHURCH.  A  United  Kingdom 


85 


which,  having  had  its  rise  in  the  thought  of 
God,  will  find  its  consummation  in  the 
WORLD’S  REDEMPTION. 

A  THRILLING  SIGHT  ON  THE  OCEAN 

Returning  from  Europe  last  August, 
aboard  the  Acquitania,  as  we  were  nearing 
the  States,  I  had  just  left  the  dining  saloon 
on  my  way  to  an  upper  deck,  when  a  lady, 
my  companion  at  table,  ran  toward  me,  ex¬ 
claiming,  “Have  you  seen  it?  Hurrying 
to  the  bow  of  the  vessel  where  a  hundred 
persons  stood  gazing  toward  the  horizon,  I 
saw  the  sun  in  the  form  of  a  disk  several  feet 
in  diameter  just  beginning  to  dip  its  rim  into 
the  ocean;  above  it  were  clouds,  shaded  and 
tinted  with  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow; 
even  as  it  then  appeared  it  wras  a  wonderful 
sight. 

But,  in  a  few  moments,  as  the  twilight  deep¬ 
ened,  this  great  ball  of  fire  gradually  and 
gracefully  descended  into  the  depths  below, 
and  above  it  the  clouds  and  mists  formed  them¬ 
selves  into  fantastic  shapes  for  miles  on  either 
side,  then  broke  up  into  huge  masses,  like 
hills  and  mountains  of  varied  colored  rocks; 
gradually  rivers  and  streams  appeared, 
spanned  by  natural  bridges  of  cloud  amid  a 


86 


background  of  mist.  Nor  was  this  all;  under¬ 
neath  these  bridges  and  upon  what  seemed 
thrones  hewn  out  of  the  rock  sat  statues  of  men 
resembling  the  patriarchs  of  old,  with  their 
long  beards  and  graceful  mantles  dyed  in 
colors  of  eastern  splendor  by  the  sun’s  rays. 
I  had  just  seen  those  masterpieces  of  art  in  the 
National  Gallery  in  London,  and  the  Louvre 
in  Paris.  I  had  also  in  other  years  witnessed 
many  sunsets  on  the  ocean,  but  I  had  beheld 
nothing  like  this  before.  We  watched  it  with 
increasing  interest  for  the  space  of  half  an 
hour  as  it  gradually  faded  away  into  indis¬ 
tinctness.  Turning  to  my  companion  I  re¬ 
marked:  ‘T  have  never  seen  anything  like  this 
before  and  probably  we  shall  never  witness 
anything  just  like  it  again.”  Others  turned 
away  in  tears.  It  had  stirred  the  depths  and 
the  fountain  had  overflown. 

As  for  myself,  I  sought  the  nearest  vacant 
deck  chair  and  remained  immersed  in  thought. 
Here  was  a  great  central  force  called  the 
SUN,  without  which  light,  heat  and  life  would 
be  extinct.  In  itself  the  beginning  and  end  of 
material  life  and  happiness,  surrounded  by  a 
thousand  fantastic  shapes  and  vaporous 
things,  emblazoned  and  enriched  by  shades 
and  colors.  All  with  the  appearance  of  reality 


87 


and  durability.  It  was  the  necessary  setting 

for  the  central  force  and  power,  but  it  was  all 

transient,  it  had  all  melted  away,  or  perhaps 

it  had  been  absorbed  by  the  great  force  itself. 

The  sun  was  there,  it  had  never  failed  us  and 

it  never  wrould.  The  real  power  and  lasting 

beauty  was  in  the  sun  and  it  would  be  seen 
•/ 

again. 


TRUTH  IS  THE  ABIDING  THING 

The  mind  of  man  in  contact  with  truth 
draws  from  it  every  shade  of  coloring,  every 
fantastic  idea,  every  creed  and  doctrine,  out  of 
which  he  builds  ideals,  and  sets  them  upon 
the  thrones  of  his  imagination  and  emotion, 
some  of  which  appear  real  and  substantial  for 
a  season,  and  for  a  while  the  picture  seems 
complete,  satisfactory,  even  grand,  but,  to  the 
open  minded,  thoughtful  soul,  these  are  but 
the  SETTING  FOR  TRUTH  ITSELF. 
As  we  study  them  and  as  we  are  about  to  grasj) 
them,  they  fade  away  into  the  profound  depths 
of  Divine  Wisdom  and  are  forgotten  in  the 
presence  of  the  TRUTH  which  makes  men 
free. 

We  need  not  apologize  here  for  repeating 
what  has  been  said  so  often  before,  which 
needs  constant  reiteration:  Forms  are  no  real 


88 


part  of  Faith,  Bigotry  has  no  place  rightful  in 
Christianity.  The  spirit  of  protesting  against 
non-essentials  represents  lost  time  and  lost 
motion.  Placing  the  emphasis  upon  sectarian¬ 
ism  and  denominationalism  is  inconsistent  with 
Christ’s  plan  of  a  World-Kingdom.  And  the 
World  to-day  is  famishing  and  dying,  not 
only  for  a  “little  bit  of  Love,”  but  for  a  larger 
portion  of  TRUTH,  the  whole  Truth  and 
NOTHING  BUT  THE  TRUTH. 

WHAT  PROMINENT  DENOMINATIONAL  LEADERS 

ARE  SAYING 

Next  to  the  discussion  of  the  Great  World 
War,  no  subject  has  stirred  the  depths  of 
men’s  souls  like  the  one  we  are  considering. 
The  great  leaders  of  the  church  are  thinking 
and  they  are  thinking  deeply  and  earnestly 
about  the  future  of  Protestantism  and  it  is 
well  that  they  should,  for  the  future  status  of 
Christianity  has  more  to  do  with  human  wel- 
fare  and  destiny  than  all  the  wars  of  modern 
or  ancient  times. 

One  of  the  greatest  minds  in  the  English 
pulpit  remarks,  “If  Germany,  by  preaching 
one  idea  so  persistently  for  forty  years,  could 
create  a  general  consciousness  of  national 
solidarity  for  predatory  purposes,  cannot  the 


89 


servants  of  Christ  begin  to  work  with  conse¬ 
crated  determination  to  create  a  spiritual 
solidarity  which  will  destroy  hate  and  superim¬ 
pose  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  the  ruins  of  a 
materialistic  civilization  ?” 

A  prominent  Educator  in  one  of  the  most 
progressive  denominations,  declares,  “There 
is  a  widespread  feeling  that  a  denomination 
is  everything  which  it  SHOULD  NOT  BE 
and  nothing  which  it  should  be.  They  told 
us  in  England  last  summer  that  the  American 
denominational  churches  were  less  capable  of 
true  social  thinking  than  the  State  churches 
of  England.”  Now,  why  should  this  be,  unless 
it  is  because  they  do  not  think,  act  and  move 
together?  Not  necessarily  thinking  alike,  but 
without  conflict  and  discord. 

A  writer  in  one  of  our  leading  church  maga¬ 
zines  states,  that  “Protestantism  is  emerging 
from  its  ‘doldrums,’  that  denominationalism 
went  to  seed  in  ‘sectarianism;’  men  glorified 
narrowness  and  called  it  liberty;  we  fear 
Protestantism  has  been  victimized  by  its  own 
name.” 

Significant,  indeed,  are  the  words  of  one  of 
the  foremost  men  in  modern  church  life,  who 
says:  “Our  various  denominations  and  sects 
arose  largely  from  the  demand  for  freedom, 


90 


and  through  much  suffering  we  have  found 
this  freedom.  We  are  now  recognizing  as 
denominations,  however,  that  the  highest  free¬ 
dom  we  possess,  may  he  the  freedom  to  give 
up  some  of  our  freedom  for  the  sake  of  the 
common  good.”  .  .  .  For  the  past  cen¬ 

tury  or  two  we  have  been  largely  building  up 
denominationalism  and  now  we  have  discov¬ 
ered  the  truth  of  the  words  of  Jesus:  uHe  that 
saveth  his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loseth 
his  life  for  my  sake  and  the  Gospel’s  shall  save 
it”  .  .  .  One  of  the  most  startling  discov¬ 

eries  we  have  made  is  that  we  have  been  so 
sadly  and  thoughtlessly  wasteful. 

Then  this  writer,  who  is  perhaps,  more  than 
any  other  man,  familiar  with  the  entire  field 
of  Protestantism,  proceeds  to  relate  instances 
of  hundreds  of  communities,  with  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  population,  without  Protestant 
churches,  whole  counties  without  adequate  re¬ 
ligious  services,  and  again,  other  communities 
where  churches  are  overlapping  each  other. 
“In  hundreds  of  towns  other  churches  are 
struggling  for  a  competitive  existence.” 

LET  US  TRY  CHRISTIANITY  FOR  A  CHANGE 

Such  an  appeal  may  seem  to  border  upon 
sacrilege,  but  if  the  reader  will  reflect  for  a 


91 


moment,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  world  has 
never  yet  put  Christianity  to  a  fair  test.  We 
frequently  hear  it  said  that  “Christianity  is 
on  trial,”  but  as  someone  has  said  “this  is 
sheer  nonsense.”  Every  known  device,  every 
human  agency,  every  theory  and  practice, 
however  remotely  akin  to  Christianity,  has 
been  tried  upon  a  patient  and  perishing  world, 
but  the  teachings  of  Christ  as  they  fell  from 
H  is  lips,  in  all  their  simplicity  and  purity, 
have  seldom  had  the  right  of  way  unless  ob¬ 
scured  by  the  deflections  and  interpretations 
of  men. 

Bernard  Shaw  once  said,  speaking  from  an 
English  pulpit,  “There  never  has  been  more 
than  one  real  Christian  and  the  world  crucified 
Him.”  Following  the  war,  he  remarked  that 
he  hoped  the  nations  might  be  persuaded  to 
“try  Christianity  for  a  change.” 


92 


IF  THE  WORLD  IS  EVER  TO  ATTAIN  A 
MEASURABLE  DEGREE  OF  PEACE  AND 
PROSPERITY,  SECURING  TO  THE  RACE  A 
MORE  IDEAL  SOCIAL  ORDER,  IT  MUST 
COME  THROUGH  THE  ACCEPTANCE  OF 
THE  GREAT  PRINCIPLES  OF  A  DIVINELY 
INSPIRED  FAITH. 


CAN  THE  DIVIDED  AND  RIVAL  INSTITU¬ 
TIONS  OF  PROTESTANTISM  SUCCESS¬ 
FULLY  OFFER  THIS  SORELY  NEEDED 
POWER  TO  A  WAR-WRECKED  WAITING 
WORLD? 


This  question  has  resolved  itself 

INTO  A  VEXED  PROBLEM.  ITS  FAVOR¬ 
ABLE  SOLUTION  WOULD  BE  AN  EPOCH- 
MAKING  EVENT  IN  HUMAN  HISTORY 
AND  WOULD  ADVANCE  CHRISTIAN 
CIVILIZATION  A  THOUSAND  YEARS. 


CHAPTER  V 

HOW  CAN  WE  SECURE  THE  KIND 
OF  UNITY  WE  NEED? 


THE  QUEST  OF  UNITY 


HE  most  common  mistake  being  made 
concerning  this  matter  of  obtaining  prac¬ 
tical  unity  among  the  Churches  of  Chris¬ 
tendom  is  that  we  think  of  it  as  something 
which  can  he  imposed  upon  the  Churches  by 
some  organization  or  body  of  men  who  have 
discovered  its  utility  as  a  “binder”  by  which 
we  may  be  bound  together  for  more  efficient 
and  united  work. 

Such  an  idea  carries  with  it  the  elements  of 
its  own  failure  and  must  be  discarded,  if  real 
unity  is  to  be  effected.  Unity  is  a  condition 
of  HEART,  MIND  AND  BODY  which 
must  spring  out  of  the  deep  soil  of  conscious 
relationship  of  man  with  God  and  man  with 
his  fellow  men.  The  unity  by  which  man¬ 
kind  is  brought  into  fellowship  with  Christ 
springs  out  of  two  simple  but  sublime  utter¬ 
ances  of  which  He  Himself  is  the  Author,  “I 
come  to  do  Thy  will  O  God,”  and,  “I  came  not 
to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister.”  Until 
the  Church  is  saturated  with  the  life-giving 
power  of  these  sentiments,  until  it  places  these 
thoughts  above  doctrine,  creed  and  denomina¬ 
tional  preferences,  we  can  never  hope  for  real 
unity. 

w 


97 


Unity  is  not  merely  cooperation  nor  does  it 
always  follow  that  where  there  is  cooperation 
there  is  also  unity;  certainly  not  that  degree  of 
unity  the  world  is  demanding  of  Christianity. 
It  is  quite  possible  to  conceive  of  a  number  of 
Churches  in  a  certain  community  cooperating 
together  for  commendable  purposes  and  the 
common  good  of  the  locality  and  yet  these 
Churches  may  remain  in  a  state  of  utter  indif- 
ference  to  the  higher  and  more  spiritual  aims 
of  their  respective  bodies.  Gratifying  in¬ 
deed  is  such  a  condition  of  cooperation.  It  is 
a  long  stride  in  the  right  direction,  but  it  is  not 
unity  such  as  we  long  to  see  and  for  which  the 
Church  is  pleading. 

WE  MUST  BEGIN  WITH  LOVE  OR  END  IN  FAILURE 

Drummond  was  right  when  he  said  “Love 
is  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world.”  It  is  also 
the  greatest  harmonizer  and  humanizer  in  the 
world.  It  is  the  only  thing  which  will  bring 
us  into  and  keep  us  in  harmony  with  God  and 
the  only  force  that  will  produce  an  ideal 
human  relationship,  “man  with  man.”  This 
“great  thing”  will  find  a  wide  and  fruitful 
field  in  the  realm  of  endeavor  to  bring  about 
Church  unity.  If  the  Churches  really  love 
the  world  and  are  seeking  to  redeem  it  they 
will  stop  at  no  reasonable  sacrifice  to  accom- 


98 


plish  that  end.  It  might  be  interesting  to  set 
down  here  some  of  the  things  which  could  be 
surrendered  for  the  common  good  of  the 
Kingdom;  but,  why  should  we  do  this?  Every 
denomination,  so  called,  has  some  excess  bag¬ 
gage,  some  unnecessary  antiquated  armor, 
some  impediment  even  to  its  own  progress, 
which  might  be  dispensed  with  for  the  good 
of  humanity  and  for  the  sake  of  unity. 

But  it  may  be  affirmed  that  love  already 
exists  among  the  Churches;  that  hatred, 
bigotry  and  prejudice  no  longer  exists  among 
men  of  different  creeds.  Whilst  we  would 
gladly  concede  such  a  claim,  yet  we  doubt  if 
its  universality  could  be  established.  Is  it  not 
nearer  the  truth  to  say  that  in  many  cases 
these  conditions  have  given  place  to  INDIF¬ 
FERENCE?  to  a  cold,  chilling  atmosphere? 
an  ecclesiastical  diplomacy  which  is  harder  to 
thaw  out  than  the  old  frozen  condition  of  big- 

otrv?  Unitv  will  never  thrive  in  such  a  tern- 
«/ 

perature,  it  must  have  the  warm,  embracing 
atmosphere  of  love  before  it  will  even  take 
root,  much  less  blossom  into  life. 

Here  then  is  where  the  stupendous  task  of 
securing  a  real  unity  must  begin,  in  the  crea¬ 
tion  of  a  new  atsmosphere  of  Christian  fellow¬ 
ship  in  ALL  the  Churches  of  Christendom. 


99 


THE  MIND  OF  THE  MASTER 

Having  created  a  different  atmosphere,  the 
thought  of  the  Church  will  be  changed,  it  will 
become  more  sympathetic,  more  liberal,  not 
to  the  point  of  dissipation,  but  in  the  direction 
of  tolerance  and  breadth.  The  thought  of  the 
average  Church  is  already  sufficiently  liberal 
in  the  sense  of  being  worldly,  for  this  very 
reason  it  seems  to  us  that  it  has  lost  much  of 
its  sympathetic  touch  with  humanity  and  by 
this,  we  do  not  mean  material  helpfulness  or 
benevolence  officially  rendered,  but  thought¬ 
fulness  and  pity  toward  the  needy. 

The  mind  of  the  Master  is  the  “mind  that 
was  in  Christ  Jesus”  and  is  the  only  condition 
of  mind  the  churches  have  any  right  to  pos¬ 
sess.  Anything  in  the  mind  of  the  Church 
foreign  to  “HIS  MIND”  is  bound  to  result 
disastrously  to  Christianity.  When  we  have 
once  discovered  how  Christ  would  act,  what 
He  would  do  and  what  He  would  sacrifice  for 
the  sake  of  UNITY,  then  we  are  on  the 
threshold  of  real  cooperation  and  service.  The 
next  step  will  bring  us  to  our  goal. 

Glancing  over  the  field  of  Christian  activity, 
facing  the  pressing  needs  and  deepening 
anguish  of  the  world  to-day,  it  is  impossible 
to  think  that  Christ  would  permit  the  method 


100 


of  administering  an  ordinance,  the  difference 
in  the  interpretation  of  a  text,  a  certain 
method  of  government  or  the  choice  of  a  ritual 
to  stand  for  centuries  in  the  pathway  leading 
to  unity  and  cooperation  in  the  redemption  of 
the  human  race.  Even  when  He  was  inaugu¬ 
rating  His  Kingdom  and  commissioning  His 
disciples,  at  a  moment  when,  of  all  times  in 
the  history  of  His  Church,  it  was  supremely 
important  that  every  eventuality  should  be 
provided  for,  He  made  His  gospel  so  simple, 
His  commission  so  devoid  of  unnecessary  limi¬ 
tations,  that  its  simplicity  and  universality  has 
always  been  the  wonder  of  the  world.  If  we 
want  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  the  condition  of  the 
Church  of  the  twentieth  century  we  have  only 
to  set  the  SIMPLICITY  of  the  Kingdom  as 
Christ  established  it,  over  against  the  COM¬ 
PLEXITY  of  the  doctrines  and  creeds  of 
Christendom  to-day. 

LOOK  AT  THE  SERVICE  OF  THE  MASTER  MIND 

To  a  greater  degree  than  that  of  any  merely 
human  benefactor,  the  mind  of  Christ  not 
only  worked  toward  ideas  but  these  ideas  re¬ 
sulted  in  service.  ‘T  am  among  you  as  one 
that  serveth”  and  the  glory  of  that  service  was 
displayed  in  sacrifice.  See  the  things  He  gave 


101 


up  ill  order  that  He  might  give.  The  list  is  a 
long  one,  but  the  beginning  and  the  end  of 
His  career  will  illustrate  the  whole  program 
of  His  life  of  sacrifice.  He  commenced  by 
giving  up  a  kingdom.  He  ended  by  surren¬ 
dering  His  life,  and  between  these  two  su¬ 
preme  sacrifices  He  lived  a  life  of  self-abnega¬ 
tion  to  give  to  the  world  the  very  Church 
which  wre  have  dismembered  by  self  gratifica¬ 
tion. 

If  the  Church  of  to-day  had  in  a  greater  and 
more  perfect  degree  the  mind  of  the  Master  it 
would  not  be  as  it  is  often  called  “a  house 
divided  against  itself.”  It  would  unite  upon 
the  fundamentals  upon  which  the  Church  was 
first  founded,  it  would  put  first  things  first,  it 
would  confine  itself  to  the  limitations  of  the 
gospel  and  by  so  doing  be  as  broad  as  its 
Founder. 

If  the  Church  is  here  for  service,  then  it  is 
also  here  to  sacrifice.  The  world  has  given 
to  the  Church  vast  treasures  of  thought,  devo¬ 
tion,  talent  and  wealth.  Now  in  the  greatest 
crisis  of  her  history,  the  world  has  a  right  to 
demand  that  the  Church  shall  GIVE  UP 
SOME  THINGS  in  order  that  these  great 
endowments  may  not  be  lost  and  that  sacri¬ 
fice  may  not  have  been  made  in  vain. 


102 


UNITY  IN  COOPERATION 


We  have  noticed  that  the  harmonious  rela¬ 
tions  of  heart  and  mind  are  important  factors 
in  producing  unity,  but  in  a  world  of  active 
forces  like  ours  they  do  not  present  a  com¬ 
plete  unity  capable  of  dealing  with  the  prob¬ 
lems  of  life.  Only  by  the  cooperation  of  heart, 

can  we  secure  the  unity  which 
is  needed  in  the  churches ;  these  three  are 
capable  of  rendering  service  and  when  thor¬ 
oughly  coordinated  they  are  able  to  render  the 
highest  service. 

Men  have  tried  all  kinds  of  experiments  in 
the  realm  of  service.  Some  have  given  the 
world  hearts  as  responsive  to  suffering  and  as 
sympathetic  toward  misfortune  as  hearts 
could  ever  be,  but  because  they  lacked  mental 
capacity  to  direct  these  sympathies  and  to  re¬ 
move  the  cause  of  these  sufferings  they  have 
accomplished  little.  Others  have  combined 
great  hearts  with  strong  mental  cooperation, 
but  for  want  of  the  disposition  or  ability  to 
exert  physical  energy  they  have  failed  in  the 
little  they  have  attempted.  But  the  men  of 
every  age  who  have  combined  the  love  of  their 
hearts,  the  strength  of  their  minds  and  the 
personal  effort  of  their  lives  in  service  have 


mind  and  body 


103 


stood  out  as  the  greatest  benefactors  of  their 
race. 

It  is  this  kind  of  unity  which  will  express 
itself  in  cooperation;  in  other  words,  our  atti¬ 
tude  toward  our  fellows  will  determine  the 
quality  and  the  measure  of  our  unity.  I  think 
that  the  reader  will  agree  with  us  that  before 
there  can  be  real  and  effective  unity  among  the 
churches  of  Christendom  we  must  put  our¬ 
selves  in  the  right  attitude  toward  each  other. 
What  should  this  attitude  be? 

At  the  outset  we  must  regard  every  church 
having  in  common  with  ourselves  the  same 
fundamental  belief  and  faith,  who  for  instance 
accept  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  the  Divine 
Sonship  of  Christ,  the  supreme  authority  of 
the  Scriptures,  the  ordinances  of  the  New 
Testament  and  the  Divine  origin  of  the 
Church,  as  fellow  Christians,  belonging  to  one 
Fold,  having  one  Shepherd  and  one  great  mis¬ 
sion  in  the  world. 

We  must  show  toward  each  other  a  love 
which  cannot  be  questioned  and  we  must  place 
in  each  other  a  faith  that  cannot  be  shaken. 
Bevond  the  bounds  of  these  fundamentals  we 
must  acknowledge  that  there  is  a  realm  of 


104 


personal  freedom  to  be  enjoyed  by  every 
church  consistent  with  the  higher  claims  which 
the  essential  things  of  faith  have  imposed.  We 
must  make  it  clear  to  the  outsider  and  to  the 
world  at  large  that  this  attitude  is  sincere, 
springing  out  of  a  passionate  desire  to  help 
answer  the  prayer  of  the  Christ  “that  they  all 
may  be  one.” 

This  will  open  wide  THE  DOOR  OF  OP¬ 
PORTUNITY  for  a  kind  and  degree  of  co¬ 
operation  such  as  the  Church  has  never  had 
before  and  will  place  Christianity  in  a  position 
of  strength  and  power  where  she  can  offer  to 
all  a  gospel  and  a  religion  which  will  win  and 
hold  the  confidence  of  mankind. 

Such  an  attitude  will  release  the  stored  up 
energies  of  the  Christian  world,  it  will  broad¬ 
cast  the  influence  of  Christianity  over  the 
earth,  it  will  facilitate  every  movement  for 
righteousness,  it  will  attract  to  the  Churches 
the  greatest  hearts  and  the  keenest  minds,  it 
will  stabilize  truth  and  cause  it  to  assume  its 
ancient  power,  it  will  give  the  Church  the 
grandest  uplift  toward  ideal  Christianity  that 
it  has  had  in  five  hundred  years. 

The  Church  has  been  praying  for  this, 
preaching  about  it  and  pleading  for  it  for 


10.5 


nineteen  centuries  and  now  with  the  forces  at 
hand,  with  the  power  promised  from  above, 
and  with  the  accelerated  movement  of  history, 
we  ought  to  secure  this  blessing  within  a  few 
decades. 


106 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  WORLD  IS  READY  FOR  THE 
NEW  DEPARTURE 


THE  WORLD  IS  READY  FOR  THE 
NEW  DEPARTURE 

WHATEVER  we  may  have  said  con- 
cerning  Protestantism,  however  we 
may  view  the  conflicting  denominations 
of  Christendom,  whatever  changes  may  come 
with  the  cycling  years,  however  many  king¬ 
doms  of  thought  may  rise  and  fall,  “we  can 
find  no  fault  in  Him,”  or  in  His  TRUTH 
upon  which  the  Church  of  Tomorrow  is  to 
rest  and  by  which  it  will  attain  its  consumma¬ 
tion  and  glory.  Those  inside  the  Church  and 
the  great  masses  of  onlookers,  who  may  have 
more  or  less  suspicion  concerning  the  future 
of  Protestantism,  are  ready  to  follow  any 
church,  making  an  honest  effort  to  keep  step 
with  HIM. 

THE  TWO  WEAKEST  LINKS  IN  THE  CHAIN  OF 

DENOMINATION  ALISM 

Every  great  epoch  of  human  history  is  pre¬ 
ceded  by  a  period  of  apathy,  despair  or  pessi¬ 
mism  calculated  to  chill  the  ardor  of  the  most 
enthusiastic.  It  is  not  therefore  surprising 
that  human  institutions  espousing  the  cause  of 
Christianity  should  have  had  similar  experi¬ 
ences.  For  fifty  years  the  Church  has  been 
making  wonderful  material  gains,  its  power 


109 


which  once  resided  in  the  pulpit  and  around 
the  altar  has  gone  forth  in  streams  of  benifi- 
cence,  helpfulness  and  moral  uplift  to  the  re¬ 
motest  parts  of  the  world.  It  has  sought  to 
compete  with  science,  art  and  literature.  It 
has  opened  its  doors  wider  and  has  kept  them 
open  to  the  throngs  of  pleasure  seekers  who 
have  often  turned  to  the  sanctuary  not  only 
for  worship  but  also  for  entertainment  and 
amusement.  It  has  adapted  itself  to  every 
shade  of  life,  in  style  of  architecture,  pulpit 
oratory,  music  and  forms  of  worship. 

In  times  of  national  trial  and  emergency  the 
Church  has  thrown  its  full  power  like  an  ava¬ 
lanche  into  the  breach  to  prevent  national  and 
international  defeat,  at  such  times  it  has  stood 
sponsor  for  vast  benevolent  enterprises  into 
whose  coffers  it  has  cast  its  millions.  That  it 
is  in  general  favor  with  the  masses  is  admitted, 
for  seldom  is  the  Church  ignored  or  slighted 
to-day  as  it  was  in  the  old  days  of  boasted  infi¬ 
delity,  atheism  and  blatant  abuse  is  also  a 
thing  of  the  past. 

What  then  are  the  conditions  that  alarm  the 
student  of  Church  history?  Or,  is  it  pessi¬ 
mism  which  has  dulled  our  appreciation  and 
are  we  walking  the  earth  with  green  glasses 
which  distort  our  vision?  I  do  not  for  my  part 
think  so.  I  am  convinced  that  there  are 


110 


TWO  OUTSTANDING  FACTS  which 
explain  the  unrest  and  are  causing  deep  con¬ 
cern  on  the  part  of  thinking  people. 

The  first  is  that  the  Protestant  churches  are 
not  maintaining  the  high  standards  of  Chris¬ 
tian  teaching  and  living  which  the  Christ 
imposes  or  that  their  creeds  and  Church  dis¬ 
cipline  calls  for.  We  do  not  claim  that  there 
are  not  exceptions  to  the  rule  but  that  as  a 
whole  the  standards  of  real  vital  Christian  re¬ 
ligion  are  either  being  lowered  to  meet  the 

modern  standards  of  social  life  or  that  thev 

«/ 

are  in  many  cases,  utterly  ignored. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  when,  as 
Protestants,  we  placed  the  Bible  into  the 
hands  of  all  the  people  to  be  read  and  inter¬ 
preted  according  to  their  own  understanding 
of  it,  we  at  the  same  time  placed  within  their 
reach  the  means  of  sitting  in  judgment  upon 
the  Church;  so  that  to-day  people  not  only 
read  and  understand  the  Bible,  or  think  they 
do,  but  by  the  light  which  flashes  from  the 
Word  they  look  at  the  Church,  scrutinize 
every  part  of  its  action  and  progress,  and  in 
that  light  they  pronounce  their  verdict  for  or 
against  it  as  it  exists  and  operates  in  the  world 
to-day. 

Thev  take  their  Bibles  and  find  that  it  calls 
attention  to  certain  characteristics  which  dis- 


111 


tinguish  a  Christian,  marks  which  cannot  be 
mistaken,  traits  of  character  peculiar  to  Chris¬ 
tian  men  and  women.  It  is  also  clear  to  them 
that  there  are  certain  mental  and  spiritual 
conditions  under  which  a  Christian  ought  to 
live,  that  there  are  also  certain  distinct  virtues 
that  blossom  on  the  tree  of  a  Christian  life. 
Then  they  look  at  the  men  and  women  who 
compose  the  fellowship  of  the  saints,  and 
whilst  they  find  many  who  are  living  epistles 
of  what  thev  have  read  in  their  Bibles  and 
many  others  who  are  striving  toward  the  goal 
of  ideal  character,  yet  they  know  that  the 
great  masses  of  church  people  are  living  below 
the  standards  which,  by  an  indulgent  mistaken 
church,  have  been  lowered  to  meet  the  require¬ 
ments  of  a  life  of  indifference  and  selfishness. 

We  shall  never  get  the  masses  into  the 
churches  until  we  raise  the  standards  again 
to  the  level  of  the  teachings  of  Christ.  We 
have  deceived  ourselves  into  thinking  that  our 
forebears  were  all  wrong  and  dreadfully  nar¬ 
row  in  maintaining  standards  of  Christian 
living  which  seemed  unapproachable  and  un¬ 
reasonable;  but,  we  are  now  coming  to  know 
that  human  nature  is  the  same  the  world  over 
and  in  every  age  that  the  people  must  have 
and  even  demand  high  ideals,  lofty  principles 
to  strive  after  and  to  attain  to. 


112 


The  kind  of  Christian  teaching  the  world 

needs  is  that  which  put  iron  into  the  soul  of 

Paul  and  caused  him  to  exclaim,  ‘‘Not  as  tho 

I  had  attained  unto,  but  1  press  toward.5’  A 

religion  which  we  can  slip  into  with  perfect 

ease  or  that  we  can  carry  around  without 

•/ 

conscious  possession  will  never  be  rugged 
enough,  attractive  enough  or  sublime  enough 
for  the  human  race ;  it  may  at  times  please,  but 
it  will  never  redeem  mankind. 

The  second  great  fact  is  that  people  are  be¬ 
coming  more  and  more  amazed  and  bewildered 
by  the  divided  condition  of  Protestantism  and 
the  lack  of  uniformity  even  among  churches 
of  the  same  communion.  This  is  true  at  home, 
but  when  we  look  at  the  foreign  field  it  is  not 
only  true  but  it  is  pathetic.  China,  India  and 
other  countries  are  constantly  reminding  us 
through  our  missionaries  that  they  want  Christ 
and  Christianity  but  they  do  not  want  so  many 
varieties  of  Christians,  so  many  different 
shades  of  belief.  Christ,  they  are  coming  to 
love,  but  creeds  they  have  come  to  hate. 

y  %j 

And  at  home  the  people  who  have  learned 
to  read  their  Bibles  are  also  reading  news¬ 
papers,  magazines,  religious  journals,  even 
discussions  upon  great  themes.  They  are 
looking  around  upon  this  great  modern  world 
of  action  and  progress  and  are  making  discov- 


113 


eries.  Not  least  among  these  is  the  discovery 
that  the  greatest,  most  enduring  and  helpful 
institutions  of  the  world  have  become  what 
they  are  by  combination,  cooperation  and  fed¬ 
eration.  They  are  affiliating  themselves  with 
numerous  orders,  clubs,  secret  organizations, 
guilds;  they  are  attending  conventions,  ban¬ 
quets,  social  functions  of  every  kind,  and  are 
coming  to  feel  that  there  is  in  these  a  fellow¬ 
ship,  a  brotherhood  and  helpfulness  which  it 
was  once  supposed  could  not  be  found  outside 
the  church.  In  many  instances  these  institu¬ 
tions  are  taking  the  place  of  the  church  and,  in 
fact,  are  actually  doing  more  than  a  worldly 
minded  church  can  ever  hope  to  do  for  its 
members. 

PROTESTANT  CHURCHES  ARE  IN  DANGER  OF 
BEING  SUPPLANTED 

in  the  mind  and  sympathies  of  the  masses 
unless  they  unite  in  one  great  holy  order  for 
the  infusion  of  a  new  life  and  fellowship  into 
the  world  which  will  mean  more  to  the  masses 
than  anything  they  can  obtain  outside  of  her 
borders.  We  do  not  deplore  or  regret  what 
the  churches  have  done  to  minister  to  the 
social  life  of  the  world;  but,  we  do  believe  that 
we  are  rapidly  reaching  a  place  where  we  shall 
see  that  we  cannot  successfully  compete  with 


114 


organizations  of  the  world  in  this  secular 
enterprise ;  that  the  mission  and  sphere  of 
the  church  is  and  must  be  social;  but  it  must 
also  be  supremely  spiritual,  and  that  it  is  high 
time  that  we  were  united  upon  the  great  plan 
of  bringing  the  world  to  Christ  and  Christ  to 
the  world. 

It  is  from  societies  and  orders,  which  in  a 
sense  are  rivals  of  the  church,  that  she  has 
much  to  learn.  But  this  is  not  the  place  to 
make  comparisons,  suffice  it  to  say  that  the 
Church  has  always  claimed  a  higher  place  in 
the  thought  and  admiration  of  the  races  of 
mankind  than  the  highest  of  these  orders  could 
ever  hope  to  claim,  and  why?  Simply  because 
the  church  has  set  up  its  claim  as  a  Divine 
institution  with  a  Divine  spiritual  mission  with 
a  Leader  whose  gospel  contains  a  perfect  rule 
of  life  and  plan  of  redemption.  Once  she  sur¬ 
renders  these  claims  or  by  expediency  permits 
them  to  be  questioned,  she  will  prove  herself 
unfaithful  to  her  tradition  and  disloyal  to  her 
Christ. 

We  must  remember  that  Christianity  is 

•/ 

more  than  an  institution,  that  it  is  a  kingdom; 
it  is  also  a  kingdom  which  is  to  be  brought  to 
this  world.  “Thy  kingdom  come,”  is  a  uni¬ 
versal  prayer,  as  it  is  also  a  universal  desire; 
this  kingdom  is  the  spiritual  presence  and 


115 


power  of  Christ  seeking  to  express  itself  to  the 
world.  There  is  no  doubt  that  man  has  a  social 
value,  and  that  Christ  intended  to  enhance 
that  value  by  his  Gospel,  but  the  spiritual 
asset  in  man  is  the  thing  God  is  seeking,  not 
only  to  enhance,  but  to  perfect  and  glorify; 
this  also  is  the  supreme  task  of  the  Church  in 
all  the  ages  and  in  our  age  as  much  as  in  any. 

DREAMERS  OF  DREAMS  WHICH  MAY  COME  TRUE 

About  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago  the 

world  witnessed  two  of  the  greatest  events  in 

human  history — the  Revolution  in  France  and 

•/ 

the  Independence  of  the  United  States.  What 
the  average  person  saw  in  these  two  great 
movements  must  have  been  limited  to  the  re¬ 
spective  fields  of  action  in  which  they  took 
place  and  the  immediate  times  in  which  they 
occurred;  but,  there  were  men  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic  who,  in  their  vision  moments,  di¬ 
vined  the  far-flung  influence  and  the  world¬ 
wide  significance  of  those  days  of  carnage  and 
sacrifice.  Among  these  again  there  were  a 
few  who  seemed  to  have  visions  akin  to  those 
of  the  rugged  prophet  of  the  wilderness  who 
feared  nothing  so  much  as  moral  weakness  and 
who  braved  the  face  of  kings. 

Returning  from  a  protracted  visit  to  the 
States  during  this  great  struggle,  it  was  the 


116 


fortune  of  one  of  these  prophets  to  be  intro¬ 
duced  into  the  presence  of  the  King  of  F ranee, 
Louis  XVI.  Fortune  also  brought  him  face 
to  face  with  his  King  on  the  day  following 
a  rebellion  in  Paris  which  caused  the  streets 
of  the  city  to  flow  with  the  blood  of  French- 
men.  Standing  in  the  embrasure  of  a  window 
in  the  palace  at  Versailles,  listening  to  the 
roar  of  cannons  in  Paris,  these  two  men  looked 
at  each  other  in  alarm  with  astonishment  de¬ 
picted  upon  their  faces.  At  last  the  King, 
having  satisfied  himself  that  he  had  before  him 
no  ordinary  person,  but  a  man  of  superior 
mind  and  keen  discernment,  turned  and  said: 
"Doctor,  what  do  you  understand  by  this  re- 
hellion  of  my  subjects  in  the  fair  city  of 
Paris?”  Looking  Louis  the  Sixteenth  full  in 
the  face,  the  Doctor  replied:  “Sire,  this  is  not 
a  rebellion— this  is  a  REVOLUTION,  and  I 

see  close  at  hand  the  day  when  France  will  be 

«/ 

a  republic  and  at  a  more  remote  distance 
I  can  see  that  the  whole  of  Europe  will  be¬ 
come  a  collection  of  UNITED  STATES.” 

So  far  as  France  is  concerned,  events  un¬ 
foreseen  hastened  the  fulfillment  of  the  first 
part  of  this  prediction,  but  so  far  from  the 
second  part  being  possible  of  fulfillment  the 
most  optimistic  statesman  of  the  last  century 
would  have  pronounced  such  a  thing  as 


117 


utopian  and  impossible.  It  remained  for  the 
events  of  the  first  two  decades  of  the  present 
century  to  lift  the  curtain,  and  present  the  first 
act  in  the  drama  of  the  ages,  and  if  the  first  act 
is  indicative  of  what  may  yet  happen,  this 
century  may  not  close  until  we  have  witnessed 
the  completion  of  the  prophecy.  We  turn  to 
the  Revue  de  Geneve : 

“It  is  not  difficult  to  discern  even  now  the 
broad  lines  upon  which  the  new  era  in  Europe 
is  in  process  of  formation.  The  unity  of  the 
civilized  human  peoples,  which  was  formerly 
known  as  the  unitv  of  Christianity,  is  now  re- 
placed  by  internationalism  in  science,  in  po¬ 
litical  economy  and  in  law.  This  is  to  be  the 
basis  of  the  future  edifice  put  together  by 
those  who  cooperate  in  peace  rather  than  kill 
in  war.  There  is  no  longer  any  possibility  on 
the  European  Continent  of  the  conquest  or 
assimilation  of  one  people  by  another.  The 
interdependence  of  European  countries  is  so 
complete  that  any  break  in  it  would  bring  on 
general  disaster.  So  the  question  of  ‘victors’ 
and  of  ‘vanquished’  is  secondary  and  really 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  new  situation.  It 
is  All  Europe  which  is  ruined,  and  it  is  All 
Europe  which,  if  it  is  to  be  restored,  must  be 
restored  all  of  a  piece.  The  chief  element  of 
the  day  after  tomorrow  in  the  political  calen- 


118 


dar  will  be  All  Europe  as  One.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  on  this  point.  Unhappily,  however, 
no  European  nation  seems  yet  to  have  realized 
the  fact.  Imperialism  and  nationalism  seem 
stronger  than  ever.  There  is  no  use  in  expect¬ 
ing  any  decisive  remedy  from  the  League  of 
Nations  and  other  similar  trusteeships.  As 
long  as  the  minds  of  men  refuse  to  be  adapted 
to  the  new  order  of  things,  no  reform  from 
without  can  make  any  changes  in  the  essential 
conditions  of  European  affairs.” 

It  is  as  unworthy  as  it  is  useless  for  us  to 

• / 

pass  these  quotations  up  and  regard  their  dis¬ 
cussion  as  visionary.  Seven  years  of  history 
have  taught  us  that  the  most  undreamed  of 
events  may  transpire  i:i  a  world  like  ours, 
where  international  issues  change  overnight 
and  where  in  a  single  day  thrones  have  toppled 
and  governments  have  been  forced  to  change 
their  character-  Therefore,  a  new  Europe  and 
a  united  Europe  may  be  expected  to  appear 
upon  the  scene  of  world  action. 

WHAT  HAS  ALL  THIS  TO  DO  WITH  MODERN 

CHRISTIANITY? 

We  would  answer,  very  much  in  every  way. 
Whilst  it  may  be  true  that  in  the  past  nation¬ 
alism  and  governments  have  had  much  to  do 


119 


with  the  religions  of  the  world,  we  can  see 
that,  for  many  years  and  especially  during  the 
great  war,  Christianity  has  pointed  the  way  to 
a  brighter  future  for  mankind.  It  is  also  true 
that  what  is  posing  as  Christianity  in  every 
form  of  denominationalism  has  been  on  trial 
before  a  despairing  and  waiting  world.  Every 
country  is  asking  for  Christ  and  the  Christi- 
anity  contained  in  His  simple  PROGRAM 
FOR  WORLD  REDEMPTION.  I  ven¬ 
ture  to  say  that  the  world  as  a  whole  cares  little 
or  nothing  about  the  different  brands  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  or  the  labels  these  brands  bear,  hut  the 
world  is  hungry  and  thirsty  for  the  “bread  and 
water  of  life.” 

The  condition  and  need  of  mankind  to-dav 
is  the  greatest  challenge  the  Church  has  ever 
confronted.  It  calls  for  another  surrender  of 
the  will  of  man  to  the  will  of  God.  It  is  lead¬ 
ing  all  good  Christians  into  the  “GETH- 
SEMANE  OF  SACRIFICE  AND  SER¬ 
VICE.”  A  divided  Christendom  can  no 
more  win  out  in  this  her  supreme  task  than 
a  divided  army  could  win  the  great  war. 
Christianity  is  what  this  new  world  needs,  but 
it  will  not  take  over  any  excess  baggage,  such 
as  denominationalism,  sectarianism,  protesta¬ 
tions  and  hair-splitting  machinery.  It  will  ask 


120 


and  demand  the  fruits  of  a  living  faith,  such  as 
love,  peace,  brotherhood  and  cooperation. 

I  am  assuming  that  the  reader  believes  that 
as  a  religion  Christianity  holds  first  place 
among  the  religions  of  the  world.  If  this  is 
true,  then  it  is  our  dutv  to  rid  it  of  all  com- 
plexity,  human  weaknesses  and  prejudice,  all 
the  sins  which  so  easily  weakens  it  and  give  it 
to  the  world  as  it  came  forth  from  its  Founder. 


121 


CHAPTER  VII 


WHAT  CHRISTIAN  UNITY  HAS 
ALREADY  ACCOMPLISHED 


THE  UNION  THAT  ALREADY 

EXISTS 


AT  intervals  during  the  last  nineteen  cen¬ 
turies  various  attempts  have  been  made 
to  effect  union  among  the  churches; 
therefore,  the  idea  is  not  new.  Many  of  these 
efforts  have  been  made  for  political  reasons, 
some  of  them  for  both  social  and  political 
reasons,  but  such  attempts  have  been  alike  in 
this  respect  only,  that  they  have  failed,  and 
for  the  very  plain  reason  that  temporal  gov¬ 
ernments  never  have  been  able  to  bring  order 
out  of  religious  chaos,  nor  has  the  church  been 
able  to  do  much  to  aid  the  political  ambitions 
of  the  world. 

The  onlv  valuable  contribution  made  thus 
far  to  real  union  among  the  churches  is  that 
represented  in  the  Federal  Council  of 
Churches  in  America,  organized  in  1908,  with 
a  federation  of  more  than  thirty  evangelical 
denominations.  The  personnel  of  this  impor¬ 
tant  body  is  composed  of  the  most  representa¬ 
tive  and  consecrated  leaders  in  the  thirty  de- 

• j 

nominations  composing  the  Federation.  Be¬ 
sides  these,  there  are  commissions  and  commit¬ 
tees  directing  every  kind  of  cooperative  work 
in  the  cities  and  towns  where  such  efforts  are 
acceptable  and  possible. 


125 


In  communities  where  the  activities  of  the 
Council  are  welcomed,  it  has  been  found  that 
its  existence  is  as  helpful  to  the  city  in  social 
and  religious  work  as  a  chamber  of  commerce 
is  to  the  commercial  life  of  the  community.  It 
has  been  demonstrated  that  the  social  activities 
of  all  the  churches  affiliated  have  been  greatly 
increased  and  strengthened. 

This  great  institution,  which  has  brought  to 
light  a  new  and  practical  method  of  rallying 
the  combined  forces  of  Christendom,  does  not 
attempt  to  force  its  views  upon  any  group  of 
churches;  but,  by  a  spirit  of  helpfulness  and 
earnest  cooperation  with  these  bodies,  it  seeks 
to  point  the  way  to  a  union  of  effort  for  the 
betterment  of  the  masses. 

It  would  appear  that  the  Federal  Council 
does  not  seek  to  disturb  the  old  order  or  change 
the  distinctive  characteristics  of  any  church, 
but  it  does  endeavor  to  unite  them  all  in  con¬ 
stant  purpose  to  meet  the  growing  needs  of 
the  community  for  social  and  moral  uplift.  In 
its  conferences  held  from  time  to  time  in  large 
cities  it  has  discussed  such  matters  as  Christian 
Education,  United  Evangelism,  Social  Serv¬ 
ice,  Race  Relations  in  America,  International 
Justice  and  Goodwill,  Laws  Relating  to  the 
Betterment  of  the  Social  Order,  and  its  Re¬ 
lationship  with  Churches  of  Other  Lands. 


126 


These,  however,  are  only  a  few  of  the  im¬ 
portant  matters  coming  under  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  the  Council  which  operates  through  the 
representatives  of  the  churches  of  the  denomi¬ 
nations  included  in  the  Federation.  The 
Council  is  made  up  of  four  hundred  members, 
elected  by  the  denominational  assemblies.  It 
meets  every  four  years.  The  agencies  cooper¬ 
ating  are  a  Mission  Council,  a  Council  of 
Women  for  Missions,  the  Federation  Wo¬ 
men’s  Boards  for  Foreign  Missions,  the  Sun¬ 
day  School  Council,  the  International  Council 
of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  National  Board  of  the 
Y.  W.  C.  A.,  the  American  Bible  Society,  etc., 
etc.  So  far  the  Council  has  not  sought  finan¬ 
cial  aid  from  denominational  treasuries. 

The  reader  may  gain  some  idea  of  the  vast 
scope  of  the  work  done  by  the  Federal  Council 
of  Churches  from  the  fact  that  the  Annual 
Report  of  its  varied  activities  is  contained  in 
a  volume  of  160  pages. 

In  the  comparatively  few  years  of  its  exist¬ 
ence  the  Federal  Council  has  met  with  great 
favor  among  the  churches  of  the  world.  This 
fact  together  with  its  phenomenal  growth  has 
demonstrated  the  great  need  which  existed, 
and  still  exists,  for  efforts  like  this. 

If,  as  we  believe,  the  time  is  ripe  for  a  more 
intensive  cultivation  of  unity  among  the 


127 


churches  of  Christendom;  then,  it  will  be 
cheerfully  acknowledged  that  the  Federal 
Council  has  prepared  the  soil  for  the  larger 
acreage  and  greater  harvest  it  is  hoped  will 
he  reaped. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  most  loval 
workers  in  the  held  are  not  satisfied  with  what 
has  been  accomplished.  They  feel  that  what 
lias  been  done  has  dispersed  the  fog  only  to 
reveal  the  deeper  needs  of  the  world  for  unity. 

The  writer  has  before  him  a  letter  from  one 
of  our  foremost  thinkers  and  a  man  who  has 
devoted  much  of  his  great  ministry  to  the 
advancement  of  the  cause  of  unity  among  the 
churches.  He  savs,  “We  have  not  done  all 
that  one  might  wish  to  do ;  it  takes  many  years 
to  get  a  great  enterprise  on  its  feet — the  Fed¬ 
eral  Council  has  begun  to  come  into  its  own, 
any  new  effort  would  require  a  quarter  of  a 
century — we  must  seek  new  light  in  the  direc¬ 
tion  in  which  we  are  going.” 

We  hasten  to  agree  with  this  writer.  No 
new  enterprise  is  necessary.  Perhaps  there 
could  not  be  found  a  better  organization 
through  which  to  carry  forward  this  work  than 
the  existing  one.  What  we  believe  is  that  the 
intervening  years  and  the  changed  conditions 
of  the  world  have  created  larger  demands 
upon  the  consciences  of  mankind  everywhere, 


128 


and  that  these  demands  must  be  met  at  any 


cost  or  sacrifice  if  we  are  to  face  the  future 
with  hands  free  from  the  stain  of  gross  neglect 
of  our  fellow  men. 


So  far  as  the  time  limit  is  concerned,  what 

are  twenty  years  in  the  onward  march  of  civili- 

zation?  We  haye  carried  many  of  these  bur- 

«/ 

dens  and  handicaps  for  nearly  twenty  centu¬ 
ries,  we  can  certainly  afford  to  wait  a  few  more 
decades  to  be  delivered  of  them,  if  the  star  of 
hope  only  glimmers  above  our  heads. 

That  more  light  and  power  is  needed  is  evi¬ 
dent  from  the  fact  that  comparatively  few  of 
the  leaders  of  religious  thought  are  conversant 
with  the  work  carried  on  by  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil;  there  are  whole  communities  and  millions 
of  American  church  members  who  do  not 
know  of  the  existence  of  such  an  organization 
or  who  are  not  familiar  with  its  mode  of  oper¬ 
ation.  This  is  not  the  fault  of  the  Council 
but  is  largely  due  to  the  fact  that  it  does  its 
work  through  the  ministry  and  the  ministers 
do  not  for  various  reasons  acquaint  their  con¬ 
gregations  with  its  scope  and  influence. 

For  this  reason  a  way  must  be  found  to 
bring  the  masses  of  the  people  into  familiar 
relations  with  the  IDEA  OF  UNITY  for  it 
is  to  the  mass  sentiment  of  the  people  we  must 


129 


look  for  the  bringing  this  idea  of  unity  into 
its  own. 

The  Federal  Council  claims  for  itself  that 
it  is  simply  a  means  to  an  end.  Now  what  is 
that  end?  Results,  so  far,  have  shown  that 
great  things  have  been  accomplished  by  way 
of  cooperation,  which  is  largely  stressed,  and 
justly  so;  but  how  much  real  unity  does  this 
cooperation  result  in?  It  cannot  be  main¬ 
tained  that  where  there  is  cooperation  there  is 
also  unity;  it  simply  does  not  always  follow. 
There  may  be  other  and  good  motives  for 
cooperation  which  may  not  assure  any  great 
degree  of  spiritual  unity. 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  spirit  of  unity  is  one 
thing  and  that  united  cooperation  is  something 
different.  The  one  is  the  assuming  of  certain 
obligations,  the  other  may  demand  the  sur¬ 
render  of  certain  ideas  or  beliefs  for  the  good 
of  the  greatest  number.  It  is  doubtless  true 
that  the  constant  doing  of  a  certain  thing  in 
unison  will  suggest  ideal  unity,  but  it  cannot 
produce  it. 

The  world  is  full  of  instances  where  men  of 
different  religions,  and  of  opposite  political 
parties,  have  gone  into  partnership  in  business 
and  have  achieved  success,  but  have  never  be¬ 
come  reconciled  to  each  other’s  religious  con¬ 
victions  or  political  views.  As  a  matter  of  bus- 


130 


iness  this  may  pass  muster  or  as  expediency, 
but  it  is  unity  only  as  it  relates  to  the  outer 
rim  of  life. 

Unity  with  God  and  our  fellow  men  must 
mean  a  heart-to-heart  fellowship  and  an  agree¬ 
ment  upon  fundamental  truths  which  are  di¬ 
vinely  calculated  to  produce  results  in  cooper¬ 
ation  springing  from  love. 

The  great  fact  to  be  taken  into  account  is 
this.  When  the  Federal  Council  commenced 
its  important  task  in  1908,  the  walls  of  sepa¬ 
ration  between  the  churches  were  as  a  rule  so 
thick  that  it  was  impossible  or  unwise  to 
attempt  to  break  through  them,  therefore  the 
Council  did  the  only  thing  a  wise  organization 
could  do;  it  worked  around  the  outside  and 
succeeded  in  bringing  about  cooperation 
around  the  churches.  But  subsequent  events 
and  the  Great  War  have  made  breaches  here 
and  there  in  the  walls  and  now  we  are  able  to 
work  inward  and  we  believe  the  time  has  ar¬ 
rived  when  we  can  do  the  work  most  urgently 
needed.  That  task  is  nothing  less  than  a  cam¬ 
paign  for  a  union  which  will  result  in  a  united 
Christendom. 


131 


THE  AIMS  OF  THE  FEDERAL 

COUNCIL 


I.  “TO  EXPRESS  THE  FELLOWSHIP  AND 
CATHOLIC  UNITY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
CHURCH. 

.II  “TO  BRING  THE  CHRISTIAN  BODIES  OF 
AMERICA  INTO  UNITED  SERVICE  FOR 
CHRIST  AND  THE  WORLD. 

III.  “TO  ENCOURAGE  DEVOTIONAL  FEL¬ 
LOWSHIP  AND  MUTUAL  COUNSEL  CON¬ 
CERNING  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE  AND 
RELIGIOUS  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE 
CHURCHES. 

IV.  “TO  SECURE  A  LARGER  COMBINED  IN¬ 
FLUENCE  FOR  THE  CHURCHES  OF 
CHRIST  IN  ALL  MATTERS  AFFECTING 
THE  MORAL  AND  SOCIAL  CONDITION 
OF  THE  PEOPLE,  SO  AS  TO  PROMOTE 
THE  APPLICATION  OF  THE  LAW  OF 
CHRIST  IN  EVERY  RELATION  OF 
HUMAN  LIFE. 

V.  “TO  ASSIST  IN  THE  ORGANIZATION  OF 
LOCAL  BRANCHES  OF  THE  FEDERAL 
COUNCIL  TO  PROMOTE  ITS  AIMS  IN 
THEIR  COMMUNITIES.” 


THE  FOLLOWING  DENOMINATIONS  AND  SOCIE¬ 
TIES  ARE  ALREADY  AFFILIATED  WITH  THE 
FEDERAL  COUNCIL  OF  CHURCHES  I 

Baptist  Churches,  North 
National  Baptist  Convention 
Free  Baptist  Churches 
Christian  Church 

Churches  of  God  in  North  America  (Gen¬ 
eral  Eldership) 

Congregational  Churches 
Disciples  of  Christ 
Society  of  Friends 

Evangelical  Synod  of  North  America 
Evangelical  Association 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 
Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
Methodist  Protestant  Church 
Moravian  Church 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
Primitive  Methodist  Church 
Commission  on  Christian  Unitv  of  the  Pro- 
testant  Episcopal  Church 

Reformed  Church  in  America 
Reformed  Church  in  the  U.  S. 

Reformed  Episcopal  Church 


134 


Seventh  Day  Baptist  Church 
United  Brethren 
United  Evangelical  Church 
United  Presbyterian  Church 
Home  Mission  Councils 
Council  of  Women  for  Home  Missions 
Federation  of  Woman’s  Boards  of  Foreign 
Missions  of  North  America 

Council  of  Church  Boards  of  Education 
Sunday  School  Council  of  Evangelical  De¬ 
nominations 

American  Bible  Society 

International  Committee  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

National  Board  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 


135 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE  GREATEST  QUESTION  OF 

OUR  AGE. 

CAN  WE  ALL  GET  TOGETHER? 


CAN  WE  ALL  GET  TOGETHER? 


IN  the  following  pages  it  is  not  proposed  to 
record  the  history  of  any  church  or  to 
write  a  history  of  the  churches,  but  to  pre¬ 
sent  in  as  brief  a  form  as  possible  what  we  con¬ 
ceive  to  be  the  greatest  and  the  most  pressing 
question  before  the  world  to-day.  If  the 
reader  does  not  agree  with  us  we  think  that 
it  is  because  he  has  not  properly  weighed  and 
estimated  human  events  and  the  distressing 
needs  of  the  race,  or  perhaps  it  is  because 
having  settled  down  into  a  comfortable  condi¬ 
tion  of  mind  and  body  himself,  he  thinks  that 
the  rest  of  the  world  is  in  the  same  condition, 
or  at  least  should  be. 

But  the  man  of  vision  who  is  not  living  to 
himself  and  does  not  “look  upon  his  own 
things  but  upon  the  things  of  others,  who  is 
taking  a  world-view  of  history  and  is  getting 
a  world  vision,  is  beginning  to  ask  to  what 
these  events  are  leading?” 

Fifty  years  ago  the  nations  of  the  world 
were  so  far  apart  that  it  was  found  necessary 
to  employ  all  the  arts  and  sciences,  even  re¬ 
ligion  to  bring  them  together.  To-day  these 
very  things  have  brought  us  together  in  such 
close  proximity  and  common  interests  that 
the  danger  no  longer  lies  in  isolaton  but  in 


139 


complexity  of  interests.  It  is  not  a  question 
as  to  bow  the  nations  of  the  world  may  be 
brought  together,  hut  rather,  HOW  CAN 
WE  LIVE  TOGETHER? 

Ten  years  ago  we  had  half  a  score  of  thriv¬ 
ing  commonwealths  that  were  able  to  feed  and 
foster  the  weaker  countries  in  their  movements 
toward  a  higher  civilization.  To-day,  because 
of  the  ravages  of  war,  these  principal  nations 
have  been  reduced  to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy 
and  are  themselves  in  need  of  help. 

A  decade  ago  universal  peace  was  the 
slogan  of  all  great  powers  and  the  supreme 
hope  of  Christendom ;  it  was  felt  that  we  were 
moving  toward  it  by  easy  stages  and  that 
within  the  limits  of  a  few  years,  war  with  all 
its  brutality  would  become  history  before 
which  another  generation  would  blush  in 
shame.  To-day  we  have  just  emerged  from 
the  most  gigantic  struggle  of  the  ages,  the 
horrors  of  which  are  so  terrifying  that  the  par¬ 
ticipants  cannot  find  fitting  words  in  which  to 
express  their  shame  and  surprise  that  the 
world  should  have  sunk  so  low.  But  what  is 
more  appalling  is  the  fact  that  the  thirst  for 
blood  has  been  revived  and  that  it  is  to  be 
feared  it  will  be  some  time  before  it  is  slacked; 
that  we  have  not  yet  paid  the  full  price  of  our 
folly. 


140 


But  the  most  appalling  spectacle  of  all  is 
that  the  great  CHURCH,  whose  mission  it  is 
to  bring  “Peace  on  Earth  and  good  will 
among  men”  is  found  without  sufficient  power 
in  this  day  of  her  supreme  opportunity  and  is 
unable  to  present  a  UNITED  FRONT 
either  to  prevent  the  ravages  of  war  or  to  heal 
the  wounded  nations  after  war  is  over. 

We  have  proclaimed  from  our  altars  that 
there  is  no  other  light,  no  other  name,  no  other 
truth  or  salvation  for  men  and  nations  where¬ 
by  they  can  be  saved  except  Christianity;  yet, 
we  are  robbing  this  great  religion  of  its  power 
by  dividing  its  forces  into  helpless  and  hope¬ 
less  factions  rendering  it  inefficient  so  far  as 
the  doing  of  great  things  is  concerned. 

But  the  past  is  gone  forever.  The  great 
lesson  the  Church  of  Christ  has  before  it  is 
PREPAREDNESS.  If  it  is  thought  by 
some  wise  to  prepare  against  those  conditions 
which  bring  misery  and  wretchedness,  then  it 
is  certainly  the  supreme  wisdom  of  the  Church 
to  prepare  against  a  recurrence  of  these  con¬ 
ditions.  This  can  only  be  done  by  a  united 
effort  and  this  united  effort  can  only  be  suc¬ 
cessfully  made  by  ALL  THE  CHRIS¬ 
TIAN  CHURCHES  OF  THE  WORLD 
BECOME  ONE. 


141 


If  I  were  asked  what  was  the  greatest  single 
human  agency  needed  to  accomplish  this  great 
task,  I  should  unhesitatingly  answer  INFOR¬ 
MATION,  knowledge,  not  only  of  our  church 
but  of  all  churches,  especially  of  those  with 
which  we  think  we  have  the  greatest  reason  for 
differing.  I  venture  the  assertion  that  if  the 
average  church  member  would  study  the 
origin,  organization,  history,  doctrines  and 
aims  of  the  church  against  which  they  may 
hold  the  greatest  prejudice,  it  would  remove  a 
large  percentage  of  that  feeling  of  prejudice 
and  in  many  cases  it  would  lead  to  a  working 
basis  for  fellowship  and  cooperation. 

Of  course  this  information  must  come  from 
reliable  sources.  We  must  not  he  content  with 
what  a  denomination  is  said  to  believe  or  what 
its  enemies  choose  to  report  that  it  does  believe, 
we  must  get  inside  information  from  those 
who  have  become  a  part  of  the  organization  we 
are  investigating. 

One  of  the  saddest  reflections  haunting  our 
minds,  is  that  there  are  millions  of  devoted 
Christians  who,  in  this  modern  age,  read  their 
Bibles,  the  daily  paper  and  perhaps  a  local 
church  paper  which  reports  little  or  nothing 
beyond  the  narrow  limits  of  their  own  denomi¬ 
nation,  we  know  also  that  there  are  thousands 
of  ministers  whose  training,  libraries  and 


142 


studies  seldom  lead  them  far  enough  afield  to 
acquaint  them  with  the  far-reaching  activities 
of  the  great  systems  of  religion  in  this  and 
other  parts  of  the  world. 

It  is  these  conditions,  this  lack  of  informa¬ 
tion  concerning  other  churches  than  our  own, 
that  is  largely  responsible  for  the  lack  of  in¬ 
terest  in  this  greatest  question  of  the  age. 

But  it  may  be  urged  that  people  were  never 
so  well  informed  as  they  are  to-day.  I  am 
afraid  that  this  statement  will  not  bear  investi¬ 
gation.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  we  have  never 
had  so  much  of  every  kind  of  news  served  up 
to  us;  but,  does  this  news  inform  us,  does  it 
provide  exact  information?  With  all  their 
reading  can  the  masses  of  the  people  be  said 
to  be  informed?  Xews  is  one  thing;  informa¬ 
tion  is  another  and  a  very  different  thing. 
When  we  go  to  the  “Information  Bureau”  to 
ascertain  the  time  of  a  departing  or  incoming 
train,  it  will  profit  us  nothing  for  the  agent  to 
tell  us  a  lot  of  things  about  railroads  and  trains 
in  general.  What  we  want  is  the  exact  data 
concerning  the  matter  in  question.  What  the 
masses  of  church  members  need  to  cultivate 
unity  among  the  churches  is  information  which 
will  inform  them  concerning  the  other 
churches  so  that  they  can  discover  the  points 


143 


of  agreement  and  the  common  ground  upon 
which  Unity  may  he  effected. 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  CHRISTENDOM  CAN  GET  TO¬ 
GETHER  IF  THEY  WANT  TO 

It  may  at  first  seem  impossible,  eyen 
utopian  to  suggest  such  a  program  for  the 
churches,  but  the  institution  which  has  ac¬ 
cepted  from  the  Christ  its  commission  to  re¬ 
deem  a  lost  world  is  not  going  to  falter  at  the 
task  of  uniting  its  forces  to  carry  out  that 
commission.  If  she  does,  then  all  her  sacrifice 
and  suffering,  all  her  prayers  and  tears  will 
have  been  spent  in  vain.  Nearly  two-thirds 
of  the  population  of  the  earth  is  outside  the 
Christian  Church  and  a  large  number  of 
these  hundreds  of  millions  are  among  the  intel¬ 
lectually  great  and  socially  prominent  people 
of  the  world;  as  for  the  rest,  they  are  the 

masses  whose  eyes  are  dimmed  by  tears  of  suf- 

%> 

fering,  sorrow  and  sin.  It  matters  not  which 
class  you  mingle  with,  or  in  what  part  of  the 
world  you  meet  them,  they  will  ask  you  this 
question:  “Why  do  not  the  churches  unite, 
why  this  separation,  duplication  of  effort, 
overlapping  of  tasks  and  waste  of  time,  money 
and  energy?” 

The  business  men  in  our  churches  and  those 
who  have  learned  business  methods  in  our 


141 


orders,  clubs  and  societies,  unfortunately  do 
not  take  these  same  questions  into  the 
churches,  nor  to  the  ministers,  but  they  are 
being  discussed  everywhere  else  except  in  the 
places  where  they  ought  to  be  discussed  and 
where  they  should  receive  proper  considera¬ 
tion.  The  Rotary  and  Kiwanis  Clubs  in  the 
business  world  are  opening  the  eyes  of  their 
members  to  what  can  be  done  along  the  lines 
of  federation  and  unity  and  every  modern  in¬ 
stitution  of  the  twentieth  century,  in  this  re¬ 
spect,  is  becoming  a  standing  rebuke  to  the 
church. 

Just  as  sure  as  this  old  world  is  moving 
forward  with  increasing  rapidity  toward  great 
reforms  and  undreamed  of  conditions  in  other 
spheres  of  operation,  so  sure  is  it  that  the 
Church  is  being  swept  onward  toward  a 
crowning  day  in  her  great  history  when  all 
those  who  bear  the  name  of  “Christian”  will 
be  united  under  one  GEAT  NAME,  sub¬ 
scribing  as  she  does  now,  to  the  cardinal  prin¬ 
ciples  of  a  COMMON  FAITH,  to  inaugu¬ 
rate  a  reign  of  “Peace  on  earth  and  good  will 


toward  men.” 

This  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  what 
are  now  called  denominational  differences  will 
be  destroyed,  only  so  far  as  they  conflict  with 
fundamentals  and  create  new  denominations. 


145 


It  will  not  follow  that  we  shall  all  think  alike, 
act  alike  or  worship  alike,  so  long  as  these 
functions  are  performed  in  accord  with,  and 
regard  to  the  high  claims  and  demands  of 
Christ.  What  is  needed  is  that  we  can  get  to¬ 
gether  under  a  name  which  will  express  and 
emphasize  Unity  and  pledge  ourselves  to  cer¬ 
tain  fundamentals  which  will  prevent  failure. 

WHY  KAISE  THIS  QUESTION  NOW? 

Because,  in  the  first  place,  there  are  many 
of  us  who  think  that  much  which  we  are  doing 
in  this  direction  is  placing  the  cart  before  the 
horse.  We  are  striving  for  cooperation  and 
are  meeting  with  some  success;  but,  is  it  not 
VITAL  UNITY  which  we  need  first  in  order 
to  secure  real  and  permanent  cooperation?  Is 
not  much  of  the  cooperation  which  we  hear 
about  secondary  to  the  real  spiritual  work  of 
the  Church,  often  temporary  and  lacking  in 
results? 

If  this  Unity  we  desire  was  merely  a  matter 
of  business,  we  could  perhaps  afford  to  await 
developments  and  take  our  ease  in  Zion.  But 
it  is  a  matter  of  vastly  greater  importance,  the 
souls  of  millions  and  the  destiny  of  a  world 
hang  upon  the  issue.  The  “King’s  business 
requireth  haste,”  not  undue  haste,  of  which 
the  church  cannot  stand  accused,  but  that 


146 


haste  inspired  by  love  for  our  fellow  men  and 
desire  to  do  the  will  of  God. 

The  door  of  opportunity  has  always  been 
open  to  a  militant  Church,  but  never  in  human 
history  has  it  been  flung  open  as  wide  as  it  is 
to-day.  The  peoples  of  the  world  are  inviting 
Christ  into  their  midst  as  never  before.  What 
He  is  and  what  He  has  to  say  to  an  expectant 
humanity  was  never  so  highly  regarded  as 
now.  The  world’s  needs  and  suffering  at  the 
present  time  make  it  a  fit  subject  for  the 
SOUL  CURE  of  His  gospel  and  power.  The 
ghastly  wound  inflicted  by  the  World  War 

any  other 

means  than  that  in  the  hands  of  the  Church. 
The  vexed  problems  of  the  world,  many  of 
them  at  least,  are  lying  at  the  door  of  the 
Church  awaiting  a  united  Christendom  to 
permanently  solve  them. 

The  world  has  tried  every  expedient  and 
experiment  in  the  process  of  world-building 
and  character-making.  We  have  tried  educa¬ 
tion,  art,  science  and  literature.  We  have 
tested  philosophy,  religions,  cults  of  every  de¬ 
scription  and  name.  We  have  had  faith  in 
man-made  creeds  and  opinions.  We  have 
dwelt  in  isolation  and  in  groups.  We  have  ex¬ 
perimented  with  institutional  churches,  com¬ 
munity  churches  and  every  other  kind. 


will  never  be  successfully  healed  by 


147 


WHY  NOT  TRY  A  UNITED  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 


which  will  embrace  within  its  fold  all  who  be¬ 
lieve  the  fundamental  teachings  of  Christ  and 
work  together  to  build  up  an  undivided  King¬ 
dom,  a  Kingdom  that  will  have  no  end? 


148 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE  CHRIST  WE  HAVE  KNOWN 


THE  CHRIST  WE  HAVE  KNOWN 


THE  most  remarkable  thing  about  Christ 
is,  that  we  have  ever  known  Him,  that 
His  personality  and  influence  should 
have  extended  beyond  the  confines  of  His  own 
generation,  or  that  He  should  have  been  re¬ 
membered  beyond  His  own  century.  If  we 
confine  ourselves  to  the  consideration  of  human 
events  and  the  simple  narrative  of  His  life, 
there  is  little  or  nothing  to  suggest  an  ade¬ 
quate  reason  for  the  broadcasting  of  His  fame 
down  through  the  centuries. 

By  the  great  majority  of  His  countrymen 
his  birth  was  considered  mysterious,  His  early 
surroundings  obscure,  even  tragic,  His  boy¬ 
hood  training  was  commonplace,  His  young 
manhood  provincial,  and  His  entrance  into 
public  life  an  event  of  little  apparent  import¬ 
ance,  save  to  two  or  three  witnesses. 

When  we  consider  the  range  and  scope  of 
His  ministry,  we  find  a  few  miles  of  territory 
covered,  a  few  little  journeys,  a  number  of 
miracles  and  a  few  discourses,  absolutely  void 
of  sensationalism  or  prejudice,  mantled  in  a 
charity  which  has  become  proverbial.  This  is 
the  sum  and  substance  of  His  work. 

Was  He  successful?  Measured  by  modern 
standards,  He  was  not.  Since,  although  on 


151 


some  occasions  he  attracted  large  multitudes 
which,  however,  according  to  His  own  state¬ 
ment,  were  influenced  “by  loaves  and  fishes” 
and  were  clearly  anxious  to  find  a  new  prophet, 
up  to  the  time  of  His  death  He  had  not  many 
more  than  twelve  sincere  followers  who,  as 
soon  as  He  was  condemned,  were  divided  and 
scattered.  He  left  no  real  organization  of  defi¬ 
nite  plan  for  such  behind  Him.  The  future  of 
what  He  called  a  Kingdom  of  woich  He 
claimed  to  be  the  King  was  given  into  the  care 
of  Peter  and  afterwards  revealed  to  Pau\ 
When  we  associate  these  conditions  \  Tith 
the  records  of  His  persecution,  the  tragedy  cf 
His  death  and  disputes  concerning  His  resur¬ 
rection  combined  with  the  aspersions  of  His 
enemies,  conflicting  opinions  of  His  friends 
and  the  age-long  struggle  against  His  divine 
rights  and  supremacy, 

THE  WONDER  OF  THE  AGES 

is  that  out  of  the  distant  past,  with  its  meager 
beginnings,  its  simple  surroundings  lacking 
either  pomp  or  splendor,  void  of  faith  and 
courage,  He  should  emerge  from  comparative 
obscurity  and  hurst  upon  the  world  with  in¬ 
creasing  fame  and  glory,  so  that,  looking  hack 
over  the  ages  we  can  now  think  and  speak  of 
the  Christ  we  have  known. 


152 


Contrast  with  him  and  His  followers  those 
of  His  own  age  and  times,  the  setting  and 
aspirations  of  whose  lives  were  so  much  more 
favorable  to  immortality  and  fame,  who  acted 
their  part  upon  a  vastly  larger  stage  than  the 
Man  of  Galilee  and,  with  the  exception  of  the 
few  who  gained  renown  by  their  association 
with  Him,  none  can  be  found  who  has  been 
universally  known.  They  have  either  re- 
mained  in  comparative  obscurity,  or  have  only 
influenced  a  few  of  their  own  class. 

The  writer  remembers  hearing  Phillips 
Brooks  say  in  one  of  his  great  sermons, 
“Human  life  is  like  the  waves  beating  upon 
the  shore:  all  look  very  much  alike,  no  one 
of  them  seems  to  attract  any  special  notice 
until  the  sun  smites  a  single  wave,  raising  and 
transforming  it  into  a  thing  of  beauty,  thus 
drawing  the  attention  of  all  beholders  to  that 
single  movement;  so  it  is  with  the  men  who 
are  smitten  into  prominence  and  immortal 
fame  by  circumstances  which  smile  upon 
them.”  Not  otherwise  was  it  with  the  Christ, 
the  sunshine  of  whose  presence  and  personality 
has  brought  into  prominence  and  everlasting 
renown  multitudes  of  other  men,  who  but  for 
Him  would  have  remained  in  obscurity;  a 
fact  which  has  not  always  received  its  full 
measure  of  consideration  and  appreciation. 


153 


Account  for  it  as  we  may,  Christ  has  been 
the  central  figure  of  history  for  nineteen  hun¬ 
dred  years;  there  has  been  no  history,  litera¬ 
ture,  art,  science,  or  service  which  has  not  had 
to  take  Him  into  account  or  has  not  reflected 
something  of  His  unique  personality.  A  fact 
often  recorded,  but  which  in  view  of  the  nar¬ 
row  human  foundation  upon  which  it  rests  is 
almost  unaccountable  but  what  is  still  more 
striking,  is  that  the  Christ  we  have  known  is  a 
very  incomplete,  imperfect  picture  of  the  Real 
Christ  who  claimed  “equality  with  God,”  of 
whom  Paul  said:  “He  is  all  and  in  all”  and  of 
whom  it  is  declared,  “He  is  the  beginning  and 
end  of  all  things.”  Such  a  Christ  as  this  has 
never  been  discovered.  He  may  have  been 
known  to  exist.  His  personal  form  may  have 
been  encountered  at  certain  periods  of  time. 
His  subtle  presence  may  have  been  felt  in  a 
measure  through  all  time,  but  at  no  period  of 
time  have  we  known  the  Christ  we  are  begin¬ 
ning  to  know  or  the  Christ  whom  we  shall 
know. 

THE  CHRIST  DISCOVERED  BY  THE  WISE  MEN 

announced  by  the  angels,  admired  by  the 
shepherds,  imperfectly  comprehended  for 
nineteen  hundred  years,  sometimes  obscured 
by  human  reason,  has  yet  to  be  REDISCOV- 


154 


ERED  and  as  the  discovery  of  Christ  has 
been  the  hope  of  the  past,  His  rediscovery  is 
the  hope  of  the  World’s  future  Unity,  peace 
and  power. 

What  a  picture  could  be  painted  by  the 
word  artist  who  could  show  the  net  results  to 
our  world  of  men  accepting  Christ  for  just 
what  He  was  and  is,  His  claims  for  what  He 
intended  them  to  embody,  His  teachings  in 
their  simplicity,  His  miracles  for  the  real  pur¬ 
pose  ne  performed  them,  His  life  of  SERV¬ 
ICE  and  SACRIFICE  in  the  spirit  in  which 
He  lived  it.  If,  in  a  word,  His  professed  fol¬ 
lowers  had  really  comprehended  Him  and  fol¬ 
lowed  Him,  instead  of  taking  His  simple  life, 
His  simple  gospel  and  deeds,  carpentering 
them  up  into  doctrines  and  creeds  which  have 
obscured  the  real  Christ,  thrown  the  world 
into  confusion  and  halted  the  coming  of  His 
Kingdom,  certainly  we  can  hear  the  appealing 
words,  “Have  I  been  so  long  a  time  with  you, 
vet  hast  thou  not  known  me.” 

The  man  to  whom  these  words  were  origi¬ 
nally  addressed  claimed  to  know  Christ;  he 
had  more  than  a  passing  acquaintance  with 
Him.  He  knew  his  personality,  was  familiar 
with  His  form,  but  His  mind,  His  motives  and 
aspirations,  or  the  program  of  His  life,  these 
things  he  did  not  know;  therefore,  he  did  not 


155 


really  know  Christ.  But  certainly,  as  a  dis¬ 
ciple,  this  man  must  have  known  these  things. 
Yes,  quite  likely,  lie  felt  that  he  knew  some  of 
them,  but  again  it  was  only  a  hearsay,  a  com¬ 
munication  of  words ;  it  was  not  a  revelation  to 
His  spirit  which  led  him  to  know,  enter  into, 
sympathize  and  cooperate  with  the  Christ; 
therefore,  lie  did  not  really  know  Christ. 
THE  MIND  THAT  WAS  IN  CHRIST 
had  not  yet  captured  and  taken  possession  of 
that  man. 

SIX  HUNDRED  MILLION  FOLLOWERS  OF  THE 

CHRIST 

This  is  the  number  of  those  who  are  sup¬ 
posed  to  know  Christ  in  the  World  to-day  and 
are  called  “Christians.”  In  a  general  way 
they  may  be  brought  under  three  classifica¬ 
tions.  First,  those  who  have  made  a  more  or 
less  complete  study  of  Christ  and  have  dedi¬ 
cated  their  lives  to  Him,  who  are  reasonably 
sure  of  their  faith,  but  out  of  respect  to  their 
early  training  and  subsequent  environments 
have  accepted  much  as  a  matter  of  course, 
some  things  on  the  ground  of  reason  and  the 
balance  from  a  sense  of  duty.  These  may  be 
said  to  know  Christ,  yet  not  perhaps  to  the 
extent  that  Paul  knew  Him,  and  yet  the  great 
Apostle  more  than  once  avowed  his  incomplete 


156 


knowledge  of  his  Master.  It  is  needless  to 
remind  the  reader  that  this  class  forms  hut  a 
small  part  of  the  six  hundred  million  who  pro¬ 
fess  to  follow  Christ. 

The  second  class  is  composed  of  those  who 
know  His  name,  the  mission,  and  place  Christ 
occupies  in  the  world ;  they  subscribe  to  certain 
creeds  and  believe  certain  doctrines  more  or 
less  in  harmony  with  the  gospel,  (chiefly  be¬ 
cause  they  harmonize  with  their  own  views) 
about  which  thev  have  no  exact  information  or 
deep  convictions,  hut  for  conscience  sake,  for 
the  general  good  and  other  conventional 
reasons,  they  profess  and  call  themselves 
Christians  and  would  be  insulted  if  anyone 
should  suggest  that  they  did  NOT  know 
Christ.  They  do  many  things  in  His  name, 
yet  seldom  do  anything  in  His  spirit;  they 
attempt  only  to  fail,  they  rise  only  to  fall,  and 
the  ministry,  experience,  struggle  and  faith 
of  a  half  centurv  find  them  at  its  close  where 
it  met  them  at  its  beginning.  The  reason  is 
they  have  never  really  known  Christ.  These 
compose  a  considerable  part  of  the  millions  of 
His  followers. 

There  remains  a  third  class.  Those  who 
patronize  the  Deity  and  regard  Christ  with 
high  esteem,  who  entertain,  what  they  call 
honest  doubts  concerning  vital  questions  of 


157 


faith  and  doctrine,  who  profess  to  believe  that 
Christ  is  the  best  man,  the  Church  is  the  best 
institution  and  that  Christianity  is  the  best 
thing  they  have  ever  known,  that  it  is  a  decent 
and  reasonable  thing  to  support  the  best  things 
of  life,  and  withal  it  is  profitable  for  the  life 
that  now  is  and  safe  for  the  life  that  may  be; 
therefore,  they  profess  with  certain  mental 
and  other  reservations  to  call  themselves 
Christians;  yet,  in  this  precarious  state  of 
mind  and  heart  they  would  be  offended  if  we 
should  sav  of  them,  “They  do  not  know 
Christ.”  It  would  surprise  us  to  know  what 
a  large  number  of  these  help  to  swell  the  mil¬ 
lions  of  His  professed  followers. 

CAN  ONE  CLASS  BE  TRANSFORMED  INTO  THE 

OTHER? 

In  asking  this  question  we  have  touched 
upon  one  important  phase  of  the  problem  of 
the  Church  in  modern  times;  this  is  the  key 
to  the  final  success  and  glory  of  Christianity; 
unless  this  can  be  done,  little  else  can  be  ac¬ 
complished,  to  state  the  case  plainly,  without 
fear  or  favor.  The  greatest  problems  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  are  no  longer  outside  the  Church,  but 
within  her  own  walls.  The  knowledge  of 
Christ,  in  so  far  as  we  possess  it,  has  put  infi- 


158 


delity  to  shame,  has  routed  atheism  and  de¬ 
spoiled  opposition  to  truth.  We  have  no 
longer  to  marshal  our  forces  against  organized 
skepticism  and  positive  hatred  of  Christianity; 
the  outposts  have  been  taken;  we  are  now 
confronted  with  a  deadlier  foe,  an  entrenched 
enemy  and  a  Kingdom  divided  against  itself. 
Whilst  we  have  been  fighting  phantoms, 
building  creeds  and  fostering  opinions,  an 
army  of  men  and  women  have  arisen  in  our 
midst  who,  smitten  with  “INDIFFER¬ 
ENCE,”  profess  to  be  Christians  but  do  not 
really  know  the  Christ. 

Every  leader  in  every  communion  of  Chris¬ 
tendom,  from  the  humblest  to  the  highest, 
knows  that  this  alarming  fact  stares  them  in 
the  face.  Every  preacher  who  looks  out  upon 
a  congregation  is  conscious  of  the  presence  of 
a  large  majority  whose  indifference  to  the 
vital  things  of  Christianity  forms  the  impass¬ 
able  barrier  between  them  and  the  truth  he  is 
proclaiming.  Every  Christian  statesman 
knows  that  it  is  this  which  keeps  every  depart¬ 
ment  of  Christianity  below  par.  Every  close 
observer  feels  that  it  is  this  which  justly  or 
unjustly,  keeps  multitudes  from  rallying 
around  the  Church  and  which  retards  the 
progress  of  the  Kingdom. 


159 


WORLD  CONFERENCE  ON  FAITH 

AND  ORDER 


COMMISSION  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

W e  believe  that  the  time  has  now  arrived 
when  representatives  of  the  whole  family 
of  Christ,  led  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  may  be 
willing  to  come  together  for  the  considera¬ 
tion  of  questions  of  Faith  and  Order.  We 
believe,  further,  that  all  Christian  Com¬ 
munions  are  in  accord  with  us  in  our  de¬ 
sire  to  lay  aside  self-will,  and  to  put  on 
the  mind  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord.  We  would  heed  this  call  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  in  all  lowliness,  and  with 
singleness  of  purpose.  We  would  place 
ourselves  by  the  side  of  our  fellow  Chris¬ 
tians,  looking  not  only  on  our  own  things, 
but  also  on  the  things  of  others,  convinced 
that  our  one  hope  of  mutual  understanding 
is  in  taking  personal  counsel  together  in 
thv  spirit  of  love  and  forbearance.  It  is 
our  conviction  that  such  a  Conference  for 
the  purpose  of  study  and  discussion,  with¬ 
out  power  to  legislate  or  to  adopt  resolu¬ 
tions,  is  the  next  step  toward  unity. 


160 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  SUPREME  TEST  OF  CHRISTI¬ 
ANITY  AND  ANGLO-SAXON 
RESPONSIBILITY 


THE  SUPREME  TEST  OF  CHRISTI¬ 
ANITY  AND  ANGLO-SAXON 
RESPONSIBILITY 


MLtCH  has  been  said  and  written  re¬ 
cently  regarding  what  kind  of  religion 
is  to  play  the  most  important  part  in 
the  future  of  the  world’s  civilization.  Great 
thinkers  of  all  shades  of  opinion  have  focused 
their  minds  upon  the  two  great  branches  of 
Christendom  in  an  attempt  to  forecast  the 
future  of  Protestantism  and  its  possible  rela¬ 
tion  to  human  progress. 

In  a  very  able  article  in  the  Atlantic 
Monthly,  Bishop  William  R.  Inge,  of  Eng¬ 
land,  calls  attention  to  the  conversion  of  Prot¬ 
estants  to  Catholicism,  admitting  that  the 
stream  is  small  whilst  it  is  also  true  that  the 
return  again  to  Protestantism  is  very  ap¬ 
preciable. 

In  regard  to  the  low  birth  rate  among 
Protestants,  which  is  also  a  serious  problem, 
causing  much  comment,  it  is  pointed  out  that 
this  rate  is  even  lower  in  some  Catholic  coun¬ 
tries,  such  as,  for  instance,  France  and  Bel¬ 
gium. 

Speaking  of  the  Catholic  revival  within  the 
Church  of  England,  the  same  writer  calls  at¬ 
tention  to  the  dominating  influence  of  the 


163 


Anglo-Catholics  in  colleges,  churches  and 
parishes,  yet  he  seems  to  feel  that  the  impor¬ 
tance  of  this  movement  has  been  exaggerated 
and  that  it  is  chiefly  a  condition  springing  up 
in  the  ministry  which  has  not  yet  influenced 
the  laity  or  the  masses.  He  says:  “Such  a 
convert  makes  a  good  Englishman,  but  a  poor 
Catholic,  because,  whilst  he  may  profess  to 
support  the  dignity  of  the  Episcopal  office 
with  a  superstitious  reverence,  he  is  always 
ready  to  oppose  its  authority  when  it  inter¬ 
feres  with  his  freedom.” 

This  distinguished  writer  then  proceeds  to 
express  the  opinion  that  Catholicism  does  not 
appeal  to  certain  nationalities;  for  instance,  it 
has  never  suited  the  Nordics  or  Anglo-Saxon 
mind,  subsequent  to  the  establishment  of  inde¬ 
pendent  forms  of  government  ;  the  spirit  of  in¬ 
dependence,  he  thinks,  is  wholly  irreconciliable 
with  Catholicism,  as  the  Roman  Church  he  de¬ 
clares  is  the  last  survival  of  political  autocracy. 

But  with  equal  candor  the  Bishop  points  out 
some  of  the  strong  features  of  the  Catholic 
Church  and  herein  lies  the  deep  significance  of 
this  interesting  article.  He  says: 

“The  attractions  of  the  Catholic  Church  are 
numerous.  It  makes  a  strong  appeal  to  loy¬ 
alty,  one  of  the  fundamental  instincts  for  self- 
preservation.  Again,  it  is  a  religion  of  the 


164 


traditional  human  kind;  for  it  is  in  touch  with 
human  nature  at  almost  all  points.” 

It  is  a  definite  religion,  the  religion  of  all 
kinds  of  men  is  as  great  a  failure  as  “Esper¬ 
anto,”  designed  to  be  a  Universal  language;  it 
is  suited  to  Congresses  and  conventions,  but 
not  to  the  use  of  masses.  The  writer  also  is 
free  in  admitting  the  weakness  of  Protestant¬ 
ism  hut  he  does  not  think  that  it  is  a  “spent 
force;”  yet  he  affirms  that  “the  struggle  of  the 
future  will  he  between  the  great  Catholic 
Church  and  the  looselv  federated  Protestant 

t j 

churches.” 


THE  SUPREME  TEST 

In  this  great  struggle  of  which  Bishop  Inge 
writes  and  of  which  thousands  of  others  are 
thinking —  what  is  to  be  the  supreme  test? 
Xot,  however,  that  which  is  going  to  test  any 
special  corner  of  the  Church,  merely,  but  that 
which  will  in  the  end  justify  the  existence  of 
the  Church  as  a  great  whole.  It  would  almost 
seem  as  though  some  of  our  ablest  leaders  sup¬ 
posed  that  the  test  of  Christianity  was  to  be 
found  in  the  hundred  and  one  non-essentials 
about  which  we  differ,  that  even  the  slight  dif¬ 
ference  in  the  interpretation  of  a  doctrine  or 
the  mode  of  administering  a  sacrament,  direct¬ 
ing  an  institution,  or  governing  a  church,  these 


165 


and  similar  matters  would  seem,  in  the  minds 
of  many,  to  be  the  acid-test. 

The  writer  recalls  opening  his  pulpit  a  few 
years  ago  to  the  General  Secretary  of  a  Mis¬ 
sion  Board  who  wasted  thirty  precious  min¬ 
utes  in  trying  to  convince  his  congregation 
that  the  acid-test  of  Christianity  was  their 
ability  and  willingness  to  give,  or  to  adopt  the 
tithing  system,  of  which  he  was  a  special  advo¬ 
cate.  In  his  opinion,  a  true  Christian  was  one 
who  expressed  his  religion  in  dollars  and  cents. 
It  was  nothing  short  of  a  travesty  upon  the 
profound  and  deep  things  of  spiritual  life. 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  state  here  the 
various  tests  which  have  been  applied  to  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  this  and  every  age,  but  we  would 
suggest  that  amid  this  turmoil  of  thought  and 
strife  of  tongues  the  Catholic  Church  gives  us 
something  to  think  about  when  it  declares  that 
Protestantism  is  a  rebellion  against  the  oldest 
and  most  authentic  Church  of  Christ,  that  it 
originated  in  a  protest,  that  a  protest  is  nega¬ 
tive,  that  a  negation  is  the  soil  out  of  which 
has  grown  the  element  of  dissolution  which 
foretells  ultimate  failure.  She  also  asserts 
that  SHE  is  not  herself  in  search  of  Unity 
because  she  POSSESSES  IT  and  has  it  to 
offer  to  all  comers.  This  then,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  is  to  be  the  test  of 


166 


Christianity — our  willingness  to  accept  the 
unity  which  she  claims  to  possess  and  is  willing 
to  give  to  us.  Therefore,  if  we  return  to  the 
unity  out  of  which  we  departed  four  hundred 
years  ago,  our  position  is  established  and  our 
destiny  is  secure. 

IS  THIS  THE  KEY  TO  THE  SITUATION? 

There  is  no  escaping  from  the  fact  that  our 
age  is  exceedingly  practical,  that  it  is  deter¬ 
mined  to  rid  itself  of  all  excess  baggage,  to 
cast  aside  everything  which  retards  progress 
or  hinders  the  free  use  of  all  God-given 
powers.  Men  are  standing  upon  the  ruins  of 
many  ancient  usages  and  are  straining  their 
eyes  to  get  a  glimpse  of  a  great  vision  which 
has  suggested  to  them  a  new  manhood.  They 
crave  unity  but  they  do  not  want  to  be  united 
with  dead  forces  or  forms.  The  things  upon 
which  they  are  willing  to  unite  must  be  funda¬ 
mental,  essential,  good  and  right  and,  above 
all,  they  must  be  PRODUCTIVE — and  pro¬ 
ductive  of  the  highest  forms  of  human  happi¬ 
ness. 

Those  who  contend  for  ancient  forms  and 
antiquated  usages,  whose  thought  and  mental 
pr  ocesses  are  determined  by  some  institution 
called  a  church  denomination  or  creed,  these 
alwavs  have  and  always  will  measure  Christi- 


167 


anity  by  the  rod  of  their  own  narrow  concep¬ 
tions,  but  the  great  masses  of  people  to  be 
found  in  all  churches  and  denominations,  as 
well  as  outside  of  all  of  them,  are  demanding 
one  thing  as  the  SUPREME  TEST  of 
Christianity — Results.  People  who  stand  with 
its  Founder  and  declare,  as  he  did: 

"by  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them" 

These  also  follow  the  thought  of  the  Divine 
Teacher  and  confess  that  "A  corrupt  tree  can¬ 
not  bring  forth  good  fruit;  neither  can  a  good 
tree  bring  forth  corrupt  fruit.” 

Yet  here  are  two  great  trees,  Catholicism 
and  Protestantism,  denoting  the  growth  and 
development  of  Christianity  for  nearly  twenty 
centuries,  growing  in  the  same  soil,  nourished 
by  the  same  conditions  of  spiritual  life,  claim¬ 
ing  to  produce  the  same  fruits,  and  growing  to¬ 
gether  for  four  hundred  years,  each  having 
reached  prodigious  proportions  under  the  bene- 
ficient  shade  of  which  one-third  of  the  human 
race  has  taken  shelter.  They  have  both  sup¬ 
plied  human  needs,  healed  the  wounds  and  cul¬ 
tivated  the  minds  of  the  World.  To  what  ex¬ 
tent  either  one  has  rivaled  the  other,  or  as  to 
their  comparative  achievements,  is  a  matter  of 
minor  importance.  There  is  one  test  for  both 


168 


and  the  far-seeing  man  of  our  age  is  coming 

to  apply  this  test  regardless  of  the  distinctive 

name  either  may  bear. 

%> 

SOME  STARTLING  CLAIMS  MADE  BY  THE 
CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

These  claims  may  enable  the  reader  to 
measure  the  distance  which  appears  to  sepa¬ 
rate  Catholics  from  Protestants,  or  they  may 
indicate  the  points  upon  which  agreement  may 
be  had,  according  to  his  special  viewpoint.  As 
already  stated,  the  Catholics  assert  that  they 
are  not  searching  for  unity;  they  possess  it. 
Perhaps  this  is  not  in  the  exact  sense  in  which 
we  need  unity.  But  it  is  true  and  has  often 
been  commented  upon  by  Protestants  as  the 
secret  of  much,  otherwise  almost  impossible 
achievement  by  the  Catholic  Church;  it  is  un- 
doubtedlv  a  “tower  of  strength.” 

Again,  they  declare  that  they  did  not  for¬ 
sake  what  is  now  the  Protestant  Church,  but 
that  these  various  Bodies  have  forsaken  them, 
and  that  they  stand  ready  to  welcome  any  or 
all  who  may  be  willing  to  return;  that  just  as 
they  are  the  Mother  Church  so  they  have  an 
authoritative  Church  and  an  authentic  Bible. 

It  is  claimed  that  in  using  the  Apostle’s 
Creed  and  by  giving  it  a  meaning  foreign  to 
its  original  intent  the  Protestants  have  not 


169 


only  appropriated  but  misapplied  what  first 
belonged  to  the  Catholic  Church  and  right¬ 
fully  belongs  to  them  alone. 

They  point  out  that  the  private  interpreta¬ 
tion  of  Scripture  which  has  been  abused  by 
many  Protestants  has  led  to  ignorant  and 
even  vicious  views  of  the  Bible,  being  circu¬ 
lated,  and  is  accountable  for  the  various  sects, 
confusion  of  tongues  and  much  of  the  scepti¬ 
cism  of  the  age,  and  has  also  robbed  Protes¬ 
tantism  of  much  of  its  spiritual  power. 

They  are  not  surprised  that  an  uninstructed 
childhood  in  religion  should  result  in  religious 
instruction  being  neglected  in  many  of  our  col¬ 
leges,  and  in  a  weak  and  secularized  ministry. 

We  are  informed  that  Divorce  which  comes 
under  the  ban  of  the  Catholic  Church,  as  a 
result  of  marriage  being  a  Sacrament,  is  an 
unrestrained  evil  among  Protestants  and  re¬ 
sults  in  an  ever-growing  tide  of  immorality 
and  crime  of  every  kind. 

They  hold  that  the  widespread  irreverence 
among  Protestants  for  sacred  edifices,  names 
and  places,  is  a  serious  sign  of  weakness  and 
an  indication  of  decadence,  the  forerunner  of 
ultimate  failure. 


170 


WHAT  HAS  PROTESTANTISM  TO  SAY  TO  THESE 

CLAIMS? 

It  may  not  be  necessary  to  reply  that  they 
are  not  true,  but  it  must  be  stated  that  they 
are  at  least  sweeping  statements  and  do  not 
convey  the  true  state  of  tilings  in  the  great 
Protestant  Church. 

Xo  impartial  observer  but  will  admit  that 
the  original  purpose  and  aim  of  Protestantism 
was  to  preserve  to  the  race  all  that  was  ven¬ 
erable,  pure  and  of  “good  report”  in  the  Cath¬ 
olic  Church  and  the  Christian  Religion,  con¬ 
sistent  with  a  greater  liberty  as  a  result  of  a 
broader  vision  and  a  wider  development  of 
Christian  activity.  This  it  has  achieved;  at 
the  same  time  it  has,  no  doubt,  spurred  on  the 
otherwise  conservative  forces  of  Catholicism 
to  keep  pace  with  modern  needs.  This  being 
the  case  she  is  therefore  not  the  loser,  but  has 
gained  infinitely  by  Protestant  activity. 

It  would  appear  that  the  motives  of  Prot¬ 
estantism  must  remain  unchallenged  by  the 
most  ardent  Catholic,  as  must  also  the  fact 
that  it  has  to  an  undreamed  of  extent  ad¬ 
vanced  human  civilization  and  wrought  great 
things  for  the  Kingdom.  It  has  welcomed  and 
developed  new  truths  in  every  department  of 
life  where  the  Catholics  have  remained  indif- 


171 


ferent  to  them,  or  have  refused  to  recognize 
them,  even  in  the  realm  of  science  the  Cath¬ 
olic  church  has  been  very  slow  to  accept  new 
developments  or  facts.  With  them  education 
is  rather  a  safeguard  to  knowledge  already 
attained  than  the  acquisition  of  new  truth.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  may  be  confidently  stated 
that  Protestantism  has  made  a  tremendous 
contribution  in  the  realm  of  knowledge  and  by 
so  doing  has  contributed  to  the  civic,  moral 
and  spiritual  advancement  of  the  race. 

CLAIMS  AND  COUNTER-CLAIMS 

whilst  worthy  of  passing  consideration  are  not, 
after  all,  the  test,  and  certainly  not  the 
supreme  test  of  Christianity,  nor  are  they 
essential  to  the  solution  of  the  present  prob¬ 
lems.  It  is  more  to  the  point  to  observe  that  in 
their  original  aims  and  for  all  moral  and  re¬ 
demptive  purposes  the  broad-minded  Catho¬ 
lics  are  in  harmony  with  the  broad-minded 
Protestants,  their  aims  are  the  same  and  the 
results  sought  for  are  precisely  the  same;  and 
what  are  these  results?  We  might  arrange 
them  in  detail,  but  in  a  word  which  embraces 
them  all  they  may  be  set  forth  in  these  words: 


172 


frLET  THAT  MIND  BE  IN  YOU  WHICH  AY  AS  ALSO 

IN  CHRIST  JESUS" 

Not  that  the  perfect  mind  of  the  Master 
will  be  engrafted  upon  any  human  mind,  that 
were  impossible,  but  that  each  life  and  church 
shall  reflect  back  to  the  world  some  distinctive 
feature  of  that  mind  of  which  the  unity  of  all 
Christians  and  churches  are  the  fuller  expres¬ 
sion,  or  at  least,  a  human  expression  of  the 
Divine  mind.  Perhaps  no  better  comment 
upon  this  idea  could  be  found  than  that  by  Dr. 
Joseph  Forte  Newton,  formerly  of  City 
Temple,  London,  who  says: 

WHAT  DO  THE  LABELS  OF  OUR  SECTS  MEAN 

in  that  communion  of  insight  which  has  as  its 
deposit  the  glory  of  the  Mind  of  Christ? 
Nothing,  and  less  than  nothing  every  year. 
Here  lies  the  secret  of  Christian  unity  and  the 
seat  of  authority  in  faith.  Not  what  the  dog¬ 
matists  argue,  but  what  the  humblest  soul 
learns  of  the  Mind  of  Christ,  is  what  matters 
most.  Our  real  unity  is  not  an  argument,  but 
a  fellowship  in  which  the  resources  of  the 
higher  mind  are  revealed  and  the  deep  things 
of  God  are  disclosed.  Let  the  Church  seek  to 
know  the  Mind  of  Christ,  and  to  be  guided 
by  it,  and  its  discords  will  be  healed,  and  its 


173 


unity  in  variety  unveiled  in  the  beauty  of 
holiness.  There  are  thousands  of  saints  in 
every  communion,  and  some  outside  the  border 
of  all  our  systems — faithful  souls,  humble  and 
unknown  to  fame — who  show  in  their  lives 
“the  lineaments  of  Gospel  books.”  They  are 
the  proof  of  faith  and  the  salt  of  the  earth. 
A  poor  woman  in  India,  broken  by  bereave¬ 
ment,  asked  the  missionary,  “Are  you  the 
Jesus-thinker?”  By  as  much  as  we  live  and 
think  in  the  Mind  of  Christ,  by  so  much  do  we 
find  the  center  where  all  strands  of  truth  are 
woven  into  one  seamless  robe  of  light! 

WHAT  IS  THE  CHURCH?  NOT  A  CHURCH?  A 
GROUP  OF  CHURCHES?  BUT  THE 

CHURCH? 

After  we  have  sought  its  foundation  in  a 
few  fundamental  truths,  accepted  alike  by 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  after  we  have  dis¬ 
robed  it  of  all  the  fantastic  non-essential  gar¬ 
ments  that  have  been  thrown  around  it — in 
its  simple  self-evident  purity  and  glory — 
What  is  it?  It  would  seem  to  us  to  be  the 
coming  together  in  fellowship  and  communion 
of  all  those  who  are  like-minded  and  Christ- 
minded  for  a  definite  purpose,  moving  toward 


174 


a  common  goal,  recognizing  one  Father,  one 
Saviour,  itself  surcharged  with  one  Spirit. 

It  is  high  time  that  churchmen  and  ecclesi¬ 
astics  everywhere,  not  only  declare  that  cere¬ 
monials  and  creeds  are  only  a  means  to  an  end, 
but  that  we  should  practice  what  we  preach  to 
the  extent  of  recognizing  in  every  and  all 
churches  the  right  to  worship  God  and  save 
the  race  under  any  name  or  by  any  means  best 
adapted  to  the  needs  and  conditions  where  this 
work  is  being  done,  at  the  same  time  to  see 
that  all  these  followers  of  Christ  who  have  His 
Mind,  Kindred  Spirits,  may  be  brought  into 
one  great  FELLOWSHIP  so  united  that 
the  world  shall  look  out  upon  ONE  GREAT 
CHURCH,  the  glory  of  this  age  and  the  hope 
of  the  future. 

THE  ANGLO-SAXON  SOUL 

There  have  been  and  still  are  some  countries 
where  the  souls’  light  has  grown  so  dim  that 
its  flickering  rays  threaten  to  leave  them  in 
gloom  or  spiritual  death.  Such  conditions 
have  been  produced  by  centuries  of  oppres¬ 
sion,  war  and  wasting  forces.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  surprising  that  at  the  close  of  the 
last  war,  Great  Britain  and  even  America 
felt  the  pressure  of  an  impending  gloom,  in 


175 


the  midst  of  which  only  those  forces  which  of- 

•/ 

fered  immediate  relief  found  full  expression, 
when  anxious  thought  filled  up  the  cup  of 
millions. 

But  those  whose  faith  was  anchored  in  the 
great  principles  governing  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  knew  that  no  cloud,  however  foreboding, 
could  obscure  the  real  goal  of  Christendom; 
therefore  they  were  still  buoyant  with  hope 
and  radiant  with  expectation  of  what  the 
future  holds  for  the  Kingdom.  Christianity  is 
to  receive  a  new  awakening  and  another  pente- 
cost  of  power  which  will  confer  upon  her  a  new 
lease  of  life  and  another  chance  to  put  on  Her 
Beautiful  Garments,  and  let  us  hope  that  this 
time  the  robe  will  be  SEAMLESS  like  the 
one  which  typified  the  life  of  Her  Master. 

THE  TWO  GREAT  ANGLO-SAXON  NATIONS  MUST 

LEAD 

It  is  not,  we  trust,  the  boast  of  the  American 
people  alone,  but  the  opinion  of  many  promi¬ 
nent  Englishmen  and  others,  that  in  this  great 
awakening  to  Her  moral  and  spiritual  neces¬ 
sity  and  responsibility,  the  Church  must  look 
to  America  for  the  initial  step  in  this  great 
movement.  Surely,  a  nation  whose  three  cen¬ 
turies  of  achievement  have  astonished  the 


176 


world  and  have  placed  it  in  the  front  rank  of 
civilized  countries  cannot  afford  to  remain 
passive  before  the  greatest  task  yet  to  he  per¬ 
formed — the  uniting  of  all  the  forces  of  Chris¬ 
tendom  in  one  great  body  for  the  progress  of 
the  race  and  the  redemption  of  mankind. 

Those  who  settled  at  Jamestown  and  landed 
at  Plymouth  Rock  rounding  out  the  first  cen¬ 
tury  of  American  history  by  laying  the  founda¬ 
tions  of  social  and  religious  liberty,  who  in  the 
second  century  of  that  history  realized  that 
their  ideals  could  not  be  attained  without 
learning  and  culture  and  henceforth  dis¬ 
tinguished  it  by  broadcasting  these  ideas  to 
every  part  of  the  New  World.  Who  in  the 
third  and  last  century  built  up  commerce  and 
trade  to  limits  of  which  the  world  had  never 
dreamed.  These  high  minded  defenders  of 
Anglo-Saxon  ideals  are  not  going  to  let  an¬ 
other  century  pass  without  crowning  the 
achievements  of  the  past  by  reuniting  Chris¬ 
tendom,  and  by  so  doing  removing  the  shame 
of  conflicting  forces,  the  blush  from  the  cheeks 
of  every  Christian  and  hastening  the  crowning 
day  of  the  world’s  progress  and  glory. 

It  remains  for  the  present  century  to  undo 
much  which  has  been  done  and  to  do  many 


177 


things  which  have  been  left  undone  for  the 
masses,  but  if  it  should  wish  to  dream  of  some 
supremely  great  thing  needed  to  be  accom¬ 
plished,  worthy  of  the  courage  born  of  a  great 
faith,  in  the  doing  of  which  the  solution  of 
many  of  our  problems  must  be  found,  then  we 
know  of  nothing  the  Anglo-Saxon  can  at¬ 
tempt  greater  than  the  welding  together  of  all 
the  people  of  all  the  churches  for  a  final  con¬ 
quest  and  victory. 

In  1910  a  movement,  known  as  “THE 
WORLD  S  CONFERENCE  OF  FAITH 
AND  ORDER,”  launched  bv  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  issued  the  following  state¬ 
ment  : 

“Moved  by  the  growing  desire  on  the  part 
of  all  Christian  people  for  the  fulfillment  of 
our  Lord’s  prayer  that  all  His  disciples  may 
be  one,  that  the  world  may  believe  that  God 
has  sent  Him,  the  General  Convention  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church  in  1910  ap¬ 
pointed  a  commission  to  bring  about  a  confer¬ 
ence  for  the  consideration  of  questions  touch¬ 
ing  Faith  and  Order,  and  to  ask  all  Christian 
Communions  throughout  the  world  which  con¬ 
fess  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  God  and 
Saviour  to  unite  in  arranging  for  and  conduct¬ 
ing  such  a  Conference.” 


178 


In  1925  this  Conference  will  meet  again  in 

Washington,  U.  S.  A.,  when  the  President  of 

the  United  States  will  deliver  the  address  of 

welcome  and  if  we  mistake  not,  its  aims  will, 

in  a  measure,  be  realized  and  a  long  step  will 

have  been  taken  in  the  direction  of  world-wide 

understanding  on  the  great  question  of  Church 

Unity. 

•/ 


179 


I 


CHAPTER  XI 


THE  CHURCH  MUST  RETURN,  BUT 

TO  WHAT? 


THE  CHURCH  MUST  RETURN,  BUT 

TO  WHAT? 


HE  condition  of  society  to-day  and  more 
particularly  that  part  of  society  included 
within  the  bounds  of  our  so-called  Chris- 
tion  civilization  is  admittedly  in  a  sad  plight. 
This  is  not  the  outcry  of  pessimists  or  alarm¬ 
ists,  but  the  serious  opinion  of  the  best  minds 
of  our  age.  Material  progress  is  everywhere 
in  evidence  and  the  world  is  leaping  forward 
with  undreamed  of  earnestness  to  acquire  all 
knowledge  and  accomplish  still  greater  things. 
By  many,  it  is  supposed  that  this  is  a  sign  of 
real  advancement  and  progress. 

If  it  could  be  proven  that  these  conditions 
produce  the  ideal  state  which  the  human  mind 
conceives  of  and  the  heart  desires,  then  we 
might  be  content  to  be  hurried  forward  in  this 
direction.  But,  deep  thinkers  and  well  wishers 
of  the  race  know  that  such  achievements  do 
not,  in  and  of  themselves,  bring  about  the 
highest  form  of  human  happiness  since  it  is 
ever  true  that  “Man  is  incurably  religious,” 
and  that  the  heart  of  man  is  never  satisfied 
with  less  than  God. 

It  is  beginning  to  dawn  upon  the  great 
minds  of  the  world  that  “the  building  of  civili- 


183 


zation  is  shaky  because  the  foundation  upon 
which  we  are  building  is  in  places  rotten.”  We 
cannot  build  a  great  structure  upon  sand, 
neither  can  the  building  called  character,  indi¬ 
vidual  or  national,  be  reared  upon  uncertainty 
and  doubt.  Therefore,  it  is  claimed  that  we 
must  return  to  something  from  which  we  have 
strayed.  It  may  be  that  our  freedom  has  cost 
us  our  liberty  and  that  in  order  to  regain  real 
liberty  we  shall  have  to  place  ourselves  under 
certain  restraints.  It  is  clear  that  men  are  not 
at  liberty  to  do  as  they  like,  because  they  are 
part  of  a  great  social  order  which  is  itself  a 
part  of  a  Divine  order  little  understood  but 
fully  recognized  by  thoughtful  people. 

This  Divine  will,  law  or  power,  as  we  may 
be  pleased  to  call  it,  constitutes  a  Kingdom, 
distinct  and  separate  from  the  world  of  ma¬ 
terial  things.  In  this  great  Spiritual  King¬ 
dom,  God  revealed  in  Christ  is  the  central 
force.  But,  as  a  contributor  to  a  recent  book 
entitled  “The  Return  Of  Christendom”  has 
said:  “Modern  society  has  pushed  God  out  of 
the  center  of  civilization  and  placed  Him  on 
the  circumference,  and  in  His  place  has  made 
man  the  measure  of  all  things.” 

From  a  purely  material  standpoint  the  per¬ 
sonality  of  man  and  his  marvelous  achieve- 


184 


ments  present  an  imposing  speetacle,  but  it  is 
also  true  that  “men  cannot  live  by  bread 
alone.”  When  we  view  the  world  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  spiritual  we  are  confronted 
with  the  further  fact  that  no  civilization  can 
long  survive  which  is  not  founded  upon  God 
and  Divine  truth,  that  real  liberty,  which  alone 
produces  true  happiness,  is  only  attainable  by 
our  dependence  upon  Divine  power  and  our 
personal  dependence  upon  each  other. 

It  is  therefore  claimed  by  some  eminent 
Catholic  writers  that  the  personal  rights  and 
liberties  in  the  realm  of  religion,  upon  which 
Protestantism  is  said  to  he  founded,  have  in 
reality  been  the  cause  of  our  modern  spiritual 
decadence. 

One  contributor  in  the  Symposium  referred 
to  above,  says:  “Protestantism  is  helpless,  be¬ 
cause  its  distortion  of  both  religion  and  morals 
is  largely  responsible  for  the  actual  state  of 
things.” 

“Thus  on  every  side  we  see  no  hope  for  the 
future  of  society,  unless  it  can  be  redeemed 
from  its  miseries  by  some  power  beyond  itself; 
which  can  not  only  exorcise  the  demons  of 
proud  self-complacency,  selfish  greed,  ma¬ 
terialism  and  black  despair  which  alternately 


185 


fill  it,  but  also  build  it  afresh  on  altogether 
new  foundations.  To  this  situation  Catholi¬ 
cism  has  its  answer.  Only  God  can  redeem, 
as  lie  alone  can  create ;  and  there  is  no  remedy 
for  these  maladies  except  that  which  the  Cath¬ 
olic  Gospel  provides.  The  misery  and  con¬ 
fusion  of  our  modern  world  and  the  incapacity 
of  all  its  boasted  knowledge  to  find  any  way 
out — all  these  things  are  so  many  signs  point¬ 
ing  us  back  to  the  old  foundations.” 

But  the  Catholic  Church  has  no  patent  upon 
this  idea,  since  similar  and  stronger  words  have 
fallen  from  the  lips  of  wise  leaders  in  every 
communion. 

We  are  willing  to  yield  to  Catholicism  the 
claim  of  having  preserved  to  the  world  much 
which  is  fundamental  in  Christianity  but  we 
cannot  acceed  to  the  claim  that  it  has  in  motive 
and  principle  had  greater  zeal  for  this  than 
have  others. 

Again  it  is  stated  by  our  Catholic  friends: 

“Christianity,”  as  they  (the  Protestants) 
call  it,  is  “useful  to  society,”  it  is  a  sort  of 
medicine  to  be  taken  in  modest  doses  to  keep 
the  social  sickness  from  becoming  too  obvious, 
that  it  is  to  do  the  ambulance  work,  to  encour¬ 
age  men  in  patching  up  an  old  world.  If  the 


186 


Gospel  is  really  only  a  modest  programme  of 
social  reform  for  a  world  which  can  save  itself, 
then,  indeed,  miracles  are  out  of  place,  and 
there  was  no  need  for  the  Son  of  God  to  be¬ 
come  Incarnate.  But  this  point  of  view  is  out 
of  date.  A  bankrupt  world  needs  the  assurance 
that  it  is  redeemed  by  God  in  spite  of  itself. 
The  miracles  of  the  Gospel  declare  that  re¬ 
demption  is  an  act  of  God  from  first  to  last. 
Man  can  only  desire  it,  yearn  for  it,  and  accept 
it  gratefully  and  humbly  when  it  is  given. 
Yet  here,  again,  though  it  is  God’s  act,  it  is 
not  inevitable.  The  free  act  of  God  does  not 
treat  man  as  a  puppet,  but  rather  makes  pos¬ 
sible  his  free  response.  Thus  the  Son  of  God 
was  born  of  a  Virgin  to  assure  us  that  the  New 
Creation  was  God’s  act,  and  not  man’s;  yet 
the  miracle  could  not  take  place  until  Mary 
had  freely  accepted  the  Divine  gift,  acting  as 
sponsor  for  us  all  in  this.” 

It  should  be  pointed  out  that  the  foregoing 
statement  of  Protestant  belief  is  as  fully 
known  to  us  as  to  Catholics,  it  is  not,  however, 
the  common  belief  of  Protestant  churches.  It 
may  be  even  flattering  to  some,  giving  them 
credit  for  more  than  they  deserve,  but  in 
reality,  it  represents  the  very  conditions  Prot¬ 
estantism  is  fighting  against. 


187 


Nor  can  we  believe  that  the  full  and  com¬ 
plete  expression  of  Christianity  is  found  in 
the  teachings  of  any  church  either  Catholic  or 
Protestant,  or  that  historic  creeds,  however 
ancient  are  necessary  to  the  highest  attain¬ 
ments  of  the  race. 

SHALL  WE  RETURN  TO  THE  CATHOLIC  CHURCH? 

This  may  seem  a  hold  question,  and  of 
course  its  answer  must  depend  upon  whether 
or  not  we  believe  that  any  church  or  human 
institution,  even  though  of  Divine  origin,  can 
he  perfect. 

According  to  some  opinions  expressed  in 
Catholic  circles,  the  Protestant  Church  stands 
accused  of  many  sins,  among  them,  rational¬ 
ism,  materialism  and  dissension.  But  on  the 
other  hand  the  Catholic  Church  is  also  accused 
by  Protestantism  and  surely  She  will  not  add 
to  Her  other  claims  the  great  attribute  of 
Divine  perfection.  She  has  been  charged  with 
abuse  of  power,  extravagant  ceremonialism, 
autocracy  and  even  bigotry.  Yet,  just  as 
Protestantism  has  repudiated  the  charges  of 
Catholicism,  so  Catholics  have  scoffed  at  these 
counter  claims,  which  suggest  to  our  minds 
that  perfection  is  not  a  feature  peculiar  to 
either. 


188 


THE  HOPE  OF  RECONCILIATION 


therefore  does  not  lie  in  Protestant  churches 
returning  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  or 
Catholicism  being  overwhelmed  by  Protestant 
activities,  but  the  future  of  both  will  depend 
upon  each  moving  toward  a  common  center  the 
soul  of  all  religion  CHRISTIANITY  as 
Christ  taught  it  and  lived  it.  And  in  finding 
a  common  meeting  place  of  sincere  fellowship 
and  service. 

To  do  this  the  Protestant  churches  must 
accept  central  organization  and  a  larger  de¬ 
gree  of  authority  in  order  to  maintain  the  spir¬ 
itual  and  fundamental  things  of  its  faith.  So 
also  the  Catholics  must  appreciate  the  neces¬ 
sity  of  tempering  their  dogmas  and  ceremo¬ 
nials  with  a  degree  of  personal  liberty  and 
charity  calculated  to  bridge  the  chasm  between 
them  and  a  large  part  of  the  Christian  World, 
then  we  shall  all  have  returned  not  to  each 
other  only,  but  to 

THE  FOUNDER  OF  REAL  CHRISTIANITY  AND  TO 

REAL  UNITY 

Having  done  this  we  shall  discover  what  we 
ought  to  have  known  long  ago  that  all  our  dif¬ 
ferences  will  fade  away  before  the  perfect  life 
and  teachings  of  Him  who  is  neither  Catholic 


189 


or  Protestant,  but  is  all  which  BOTH  have 
ever  claimed  to  be  and  much  more,  since  He  is 
the  embodiment  of  Perfect  Truth  and  com¬ 
plete  unity.  This  will  mean  vastly  more  than 
a  return  to  any  church,  but  will  be 

A  RETURN  TO  THE  KINGDOM  OF  GOD 

It  may  be  observed  that  in  so  far  as  creeds, 
ordinances  and  human  ideas  or  churches  repre¬ 
sent  this  kingdom  or  become  a  part  of  it,  they 
will  find  their  place  in  the  program  of  that 
Kingdom  and  will  add  to  its  growth. 

In  passing  it  may  be  well  to  acknowledge 
that  the  internal  conditions  of  the  churches 
and  their  apparent  rivalry  are  not  the  only 
drawbacks  to  speedy  advance  toward  the 
Kingdom  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that 
industrial,  economic  and  social  conditions  also 
intervene,  to  say  nothing  of  the  antagonism 
of  human  nature  against  the  Divine  within 
us,  often  expressed  in  selfishness  and  false 
values  of  life,  but  over  against  these  is  the  code 
of  Christian  ethics  contained  in  the  command¬ 
ment,  “Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  mind  and 
with  all  thy  soul  and  with  all  thy  strength  and 
thy  neighbor  as  thyself.” 

In  the  face  of  this  challenge  to  the  highest 
there  is  in  man — 


190 


ARE  WE  SATISFIED  WITH  THE  TWENTIETH 
CENTURY  CHURCH  ? 

If  we  are,  then  we  are  easily  satisfied;  of 
this,  however,  we  may  he  sure,  in  this  respect 
at  least,  we  are  not  like  our  Divine  Master, 
for  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  He  is  not  satisfied. 

So  long  as  in  some  churches  creeds  are 
everything,  in  others  money  is  said  to  talk  and 
social  influence  alone  seems  to  count,  and  in  all, 
selfishness  combined  with  indifference  to  hu¬ 
man  needs  exists,  there  is  little  prospect  of 
Christ  being  “all  and  in  all”  or  the  Kingdom 
being  united  as  He  wishes  it  to  be. 

It  was  Karl  Marx  who  declared  that  “re¬ 
ligion  was  an  opium  for  the  people;”  and  an¬ 
other  great  thinker  says  “religion  is  a  danger¬ 
ous  thing.”  Both  were  right  in  so  far  as  cer¬ 
tain  kinds  of  religion  are  concerned  and  the 
manner  in  which  they  are  administered.  It 
must  be  admitted  that  for  millions  of  our  day, 
religion  is  an  opiate  which  first  lulls  to  sleep 
then  threatens  whole  churches  with  spiritual 
death.  In  this  way  it  becomes  a  dangerous 
condition  not  only  to  the  individual  but  to  the 
State.  But  Christianity  which  is  composed  of 
the  best  there  is  in  all  religions  and  invested 
with  a  power  unknown  to  any  other,  is  in  itself 
Life  and  Liberty,  for  eternal  life  “IS  TO 
KNOW  ITS  AUTHOR.” 


191 


It  cannot  be  too  often  stated  that  REAL 
UNITY  is  to  be  found  in  a  return  to  the 
Spiritual  Kingdom  of  truth  and  not  to  any 
institution  claiming  to  represent  that  truth. 
Of  course,  if  in  our  quest  for  this  kingdom  of 
Truth  we  should  be  led  into  any  Church  or 
organization  which  most  fully  represents  it, 
then  our  place  is  in  that  institution,  hut  the 
search  must  not  he  for  the  institution  but 
rather  for  the  TRUTH. 

In  this  search  which  honest  minds  are  mak¬ 
ing  to-day  it  may  he  that  we  shall  come  to  a 
place  where  the  chasm  between  Catholicism 
and  Protestantism  is  found  to  be  very  narrow 
and  it  will  be  possible  to  join  hands  across  the 
intervening  space  in  cooperation  so  that  there 
will  he  “One  fold  and  one  Shepherd.”  Hav¬ 
ing  found  the  place  of  contact  we  shall  not  be 
long  in  discovering  the  sphere  of  cooperation 
and  fellowship. 

In  an  essay  entitled  “The  Kingdom  of  God 
And  The  Church  Of  To-day,”  Father  Paul  B. 
Bull  has  this  to  say: 

“We  believe  that  the  Church  with  her 
Catholic  dogma,  discipline,  and  devotion,  in 
her  social  principles  of  faith,  freedom,  and  fel¬ 
lowship  has  the  only  secret  of  man’s  redemp¬ 
tion  in  binding  men  together  into  a  living  Fel- 


192 


lowship  with  God.  If  she  will  purge  herself 
from  worldliness,  idolatry,  and  selfishness  and 
stake  her  life  on  establishing  the  Kingdom  of 
God  among  men;  if  she  will  issue  forth  from 
the  sanctuary  to  claim  for  Christ  the  absolute 
dominion  over  the  whole  life  of  man,  to  en¬ 
throne  Him  as  King  over  our  social  relation¬ 
ships  and  our  industrial  and  commercial  activ¬ 
ities,  as  well  as  over  our  individual  life;  if  she 
will  concentrate  all  her  energies  at  whatever 
cost  on  giving  social  and  economic  expression 
to  her  Faith,  then  Christ  will  return  to  reign 
over  us  and  ‘the  kingdom  of  the  world  will  be¬ 
come  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of  his 
Christ.’  ” 

In  the  book  we  have  already  referred  to, 
Chesterton  in  his  epilogue  remarks: 

“Many  said  the  Church  was  dying  when 
Julian  proclaimed  from  the  Imperial  throne 
the  worship  of  Apollo.  Many  would  have 
said  again,  after  the  first  triumphs  of  many 
oriental  heresies,  that  the  Church  was  dying; 
and  in  this  sense  they  would  have  been  right. 
The  Church  was  dying;  but  the  worship  of 
Apollo  was  dead.  Many  would  have  said  it 
when  Calvinism  was  overshadowing  province 
after  province,  and  rightly;  the  Church  was 
dying,  but  the  oriental  heresies  were  dead. 


193 


When  the  French  Revolution  had  made  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth,  it  was  quite  obvious 
to  every  clear-sighted  person  that  Christianity 
had  come  to  an  end.  The  Church  was  cer¬ 
tainly  dying;  but  Calvinism  was  dead.  The 
Christian  religion  has  died  daily;  its  enemies 
have  only  died.  And  what  we  see  before  us 
to-day  is  not  a  mere  fashion  of  the  praise  of 
one  century  over  another ;  but  at  most  a  rather 
unique  illustration  of  the  fact  that  the  world 
fares  worse  without  that  religion  than  with  it. 
The  Church  is  dying  as  usual;  but  the  modern 
world  is  dead ;  and  cannot  be  raised  save  in  the 
fashion  of  Lazarus.” 

We  would  add  to  what  this  writer  says,  by 
asking,  in  what  respect  did  the  resurrection  of 
Lazarus  symbolize  the  return  of  Christendom? 
We  think  that  Mary  revealed  the  secret  of 
natural  death  then  and  spiritual  death  now, 
when  she  said  to  the  Master,  “If  thou  hadst 
been  here  my  Brother  had  not  died.”  It  was  in 
the  absence  of  Christ  then,  and  it  is  in  that 
same  absence  NOW  that  death  ensues  to  the 
Church.  If  He  were  more  consciously  pres¬ 
ent  in  His  Church,  it  would  be  characterized 
by  life  and  unity. 

In  a  recent  issue  of  the  Literary  Digest 
Professor  Pratt  points  out  that  the  future  is 


194 


not  altogether  dark  because  ‘‘Religion  is  too 
fundamental  to  human  nature  ever  to  be  lost, 
the  rising  generation  is  truly  religious  at  the 
bottom,  but  he  also  thinks  that  Christendom 
will  never  return  again  to  the  letter  of  relig¬ 
ious  truth,  new  forms  of  faith  will  have  to  be 
worked  out  to  agree  with  science.”  He  con¬ 
tinues  : 

“What  the  present  younger  generation  and 
their  successors  will  do  with  religion,  it  is  for 
them  to  decide.  They  may  do  with  it  what 
they  will.  I  do  not  feel  that  our  generation — 
I  speak  as  one  of  the  older  ones — have  done 
quite  our  full  duty  by  the  young  people;  but 
perhaps  nothing  better  could  have  been  ex¬ 
pected.  At  any  rate,  the  tiller  is  slipping  rap- 

idlv  from  our  hands.  We  can  do  little  now 

•/ 

but  impress  upon  our  younger  friends  the 
enormous  issues  at  stake — at  stake  for  them 
and  for  their  successors — and  the  genuine 
value  of  some  of  the  things  which  in  the  light¬ 
ness  of  youth  they  tend  to  minimize.  Let  them 
remember  that  religion  is  a  pearl  of  great 
price;  that  the  spiritual  life,  tho  it  can  never 
be  killed  out  of  the  race,  is  a  tender  plant  which 
gives  its  fairest  flowers  only  after  careful  cul¬ 
ture;  that  liberty  is  not  the  only  thing  whose 
price  is  eternal  vigilance.” 


195 


The  foregoing  is  by  no  means  reassuring 
and  we  fear  that  the  forming  a  new  faith  will 
complicate  rather  than  simplify  the  problem. 
We  believe  that  it  is  not  new  forms  or  faiths 
that  we  need  but  more  confidence  in  the  vital 
things  of  the  faith  “once  delivered”  and  that 
the  tragedy  of  it  all  is  that  we  have  been  trying 
to  crowd  infinite  truths  into  finite  forms  until 
we  are  weary  and  disgusted  with  the  task. 

CAN  WE  REFORM  THE  REFORMATION? 

In  the  opinion  of  that  distinguished  scholar, 
Dr.  Shailer  Mathews,  Protestantism  may  un¬ 
dergo  a  reform  which  will  result  in  the  exercise 
of  more  authority  and  adopting  more  central 
organization.  He  seems  to  think  that  “the 
last  decade  has  produced  greater  efficiency, 
and  that  certain  groups  of  denominations  have 
gained  both  in  spirit  and  administration,  that 
this  development  has  given  birth  to  a  sense  of 
denominational  significance.”  He  seems  to 
foresee  a  regrouping  of  denominations  of  con¬ 
servatives  devoted  to  the  infilterating  of  so¬ 
ciety  with  the  spirit  of  the  teachings  of  Christ. 

The  struggle,  this  writer  claims,  is  between 
the  Modernist  and  Fundamentalists,  the  one 
considering  religion  from  the  standpoint  of 
theology,  the  other  from  a  non-theological  and 


196 


scientific  point  of  view  applying  the  teachings 
of  Christ  to  society. 

He  concludes:  “These  are  questions  raised 
by  the  tendencies  of  the  last  ten  years  in  Prot- 
estantism,  the  next  ten  years  will  show  what 
their  answer  will  be.” 

Whatever  names  we  may  give  to  the  two 
growing  wings  of  Protestantism,  such  as 
Modernist  and  Conservatives,  or  whatever  sig¬ 
nificance  we  may  attach  to  these  factors,  their 
development  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
survival  of  Protestantism,  they  are  merely  dif¬ 
ferent  methods  of  applying  the  same  great 
jwinciples,  the  sum  and  total  of  which  is 
CHRISTIANITY  which  can  neither  be 
added  to  or  taken  from,  either  by  new  forms  or 
names,  but  which  is  either  what  it  is  claimed  to 
be,  a  DIVINE  REVELATION,  or  not 
worthy  of  acceptance  as  a  world  religion. 


197 


CHAPTER  XII 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  DOES  WITH 
CHRIST  WILL  DETERMINE 
WHAT  GOD  WILL  DO  WITH 
THE  CHURCH 


WHAT  IS  PROTESTANTISM  GOING 
TO  DO  WITH  CHRIST? 


WHATEVER  greatness  or  glory  there 
is  attached  to  Protestantism  to-day, 
she  owes  it  in  common  with  all  other 
Christian  forces  to  the  cardinal  doctrine  of 
the  Divine  Personality  of  Christ.  In  making 
this  statement  we  are  not  setting  up  any  claim 
to  His  divinity,  but  we  are  simply  recording  a 
well  established  fact.  Every  Protestant 
Church  for  four  centuries  has  challenged  the 
world  with  this  question,  “What  think  ye  of 
Christ?”  and  the  answer  which  the  Church  has 
demanded  as  one  of  the  essential  conditions  of 
membership  has  been  “He  is  the  Son  of  the 
Living  God.” 

Until  recent  years  it  has  been  claimed  by 
every  evangelical  or  orthodox  Church  that 
upon  the  divinity  of  Christ  the  whole  super¬ 
structure  of  Christianity  rests.  It  has  been 
pointed  out  in  hundreds  of  volumes  and  thou¬ 
sands  of  pulpits  that  if  He  is  not  divine,  then 
the  whole  system  of  His  teachings,  miracles 
and  sacrifice  loses  their  significance  and  power 
as  constituting  a  world  religion. 

Strange  indeed,  that  it  is  no  longer  the 
masses  to  whom  the  above  question  needs  to  be 
put,  hut  to-day  we  find  ourselves  under  the 


201 


painful  necessity  of  asking  the  ministers,  the 
professors  and  presidents  of  our  seminaries 
who  have  the  moulding  of  our  future  ministry 
“What  think  YE  of  Christ?”  Fortunately 
those  who  would  betray  their  heterodoxy  are  in 
the  minority,  but  it  is  this  minority  and  their 
annual  output  of  graduates  for  the  ministry 
with  which  Protestantism  will  have  to  reckon. 

If,  for  instance,  we  were  thinking  of  the 
Catholic  Church  and  such  a  condition  existed 
there,  we  might  fall  back  upon  authority  and 
leadership,  with  the  hope  and  expectation  that 
the  evil  might  be  checked  or  held  within  certain 
bounds.  But  here  is  Protestantism,  in  which 
every  man  is  a  law  unto  himself,  where  with 
certain  reservations  and  modes  of  expression 
any  minister  can  pass  out  to  his  people  ideas, 
which  with  constant  repetition  and  conceal¬ 
ment  of  their  real  meaning  finally  become  ac- 
cej)table  to  his  members  but,  which  in  time 
change  the  thought  and  conceptions  of  an  en¬ 
tire  congregation,  until  the  name  it  bears  does 
not  correspond  to  the  faith  it  holds. 

PROTESTANTISM  IS  IN  DANGER  OF  BEING  OVER¬ 
THROWN  BY  ITS  ATTITUDE  TOWARDS  THE 
FOUNDER  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

If  we  question  His  origin,  deny  His  di¬ 
vinity,  and  divest  His  teachings  of  their  su- 


202 


pernatural  authority,  then  the  Protestant 
churches  have  no  adequate  foundation  left 
upon  which  to  continue  building  a  Church 
capable  of  meeting  the  world’s  needs  and  re¬ 
deeming  mankind.  We  shall  have  a  philos¬ 
ophy,  a  system  of  character  building,  a  social 
reform  movement,  but  not  a  religion,  and  cer¬ 
tainly  not  a  supernatural  religion  capable  of 
linking  men  up  with  God  and  bringing  God 
into  the  midst  of  men. 

If  Christ  was  not  divine,  then  He  is  no 
longer  in  the  world  by  His  spiritual  presence, 
to  see,  to  hear,  to  pity,  or  to  save.  He  simply 
was,  but  is  no  more,  only  as  a  memory,  a  re- 

7  7  V  7 

corded  fact  of  historv.  He  is  less  to  mankind 
than  Socrates  who  lived  longer  and  did  more, 
than  Milton  who  wrote  more,  than  Shakes¬ 
peare  who  left  more  behind  him,  He  is  inferior 
to  these  in  actual  accomplishments,  unless  we 
concede  to  Him  the  fact  of  His  divinity  which 
alone  makes  the  little  He  did  and  said  divine 
and  renders  his  contribution  greater  than  all 
others  combined. 

What  the  Church  and  the  world  needs  is  not 
a  HUMAN  CHRIST  in  the  sense  of  His  not 
being  divine.  It  needs  a  REDISCOVERED 
CHRIST,  One  who  has  not  only  come,  but  is 
here,  and  is  coming  all  the  time  in  a  grander 
form  and  to  a  greater  degree  to  meet  human 


203 


needs.  We  do  not  want  a  diminishing  Christ, 
but  a  Saviour  who  is  growing  upon  the  minds 
of  men,  anything  less  than  this  will  disappoint 
the  hope  of  mankind  and  nullify  His  teach¬ 
ings. 

If  Protestantism  takes  its  stand  anew  upon 
the  divinity  of  the  Son  of  God  and  seeks  to 
unite  its  forces  into  one  great  Church  founded 
upon  the  fundamentals  of  the  Christian  relig¬ 
ion,  then  its  overthrow  need  not  be  feared,  nor 
need  it  fear  for  its  final  victory.  But  if  our 
institutions  and  ministry  are  not  delivered 
from  the  sanctified  skepticism  of  so-called 
leaders  by  which  they  are  threatened,  the  com¬ 
ing  years  may  bring  failure  or  even  defeat. 

We  have  learned  by  sad  experiences  with 
material  things  that  PUBLIC  SENTI¬ 
MENT  IS  A  HARD  TASKMASTER 
and  in  these  days  of  changing  opinions  the 
world  has  its  ear  to  the  ground  as  never  be¬ 
fore.  It  may  be  thought  by  some  that  one 
way  of  saving  men  is  to  flatter  them,  but  a 
dying  man  does  not  think  so,  neither  does  a 
dying  world.  The  world  wants  Christ,  the 
Christ  of  the  manger  and  the  cross,  the  Christ 
the  Son  of  God,  Christ  the  world’s  redeemer — 
the  Christ  who  is  at  once  the  meeting  place  in 
human  history  for  the  “exaltation  of  man  and 
the  condescension  of  God,”  the  Christ  who  not 


204 


only  CAME  to  the  world  but  who  was 
GIVEN  to  the  world  for  a  purpose  with  a 
supreme  mission  and  a  complete  program. 

The  Church  lias  plead  with  the  world  to 
place  its  confidence  in  a  divine  plan  and  a 
divine  Christ,  it  has  accused  it  of  turning  its 
hack  upon  the  Son  of  God,  it  has  depicted  the 
shame  and  consequences  attendant  upon  the 
rejection  of  the  Church  as  a  divine  institution. 
It  has  held  the  Bible  up  as  an  infallible  guide 
of  conduct  and  life.  It  has  proclaimed  that 
the  supernatural  element  in  Christianity  was 
and  is  its  crowning  glory.  How,  in  the  face 
of  these  claims,  can  it  permit  its  teachers  and 
leaders  of  religious  thought  to  belittle  its  teach¬ 
ings  and  disappoint  its  hopes  and  to  wreck  its 
future? 

It  is  frankly  admitted  that  there  are  historic 
and  scientific  errors  in  the  Old  Testament,  that 
there  may  he  misconceptions  of  doctrinal 
truths  expressed  in  the  New  Testament  ema¬ 
nating  from  the  minds  and  teachings  of  the 
early  followers.  We  have  no  quarrel  with  the 
men  who  feel  called  upon  to  expose  or  explain 
these  matters  giving  us  the  benefit  of  their 
scholarship  and  devotion  to  reason  and  logic, 
but  we  cannot  see  how  the  men  who  are  ap¬ 
pointed  and  paid  to  further  the  high  aims  of 
the  Christian  religion  in  institutions  dedicated 


to  its  interests  can,  with  impunity,  attack  those 
very  fundamentals  upon  which  the  Church 
stands  and  by  which  it  proposed  to  carry  out 
its  divinely  appointed  mission  in  the  world. 

There  are  millions  of  people  among  the 
masses  who  are  beginning  to  see  the  shadow 
of  unbelief  which  like  a  film  is  passing  over 
the  once  clear  faith  of  men,  they  are  conscious 
of  the  lowering  temperature  of  spiritual  life 
and  they  are  gradually  coming  to  feel  that 
the  trouble  is  not  alone  with  the  pew  but  that 
its  baneful  influence  is  having  its  rise  in  the 
pulpit  and  in  those  institutions  from  which  our 
modern  pulpits  are  being  filled. 

It  has  often  been  said  that  in  politics  and 
upon  all  great  issues  “the  people  can  be 
trusted.”  Let  us  hope  that  the  time  is  not  far 
distant  when  they  will  rise  and  demand  that 
the  leaders  of  religious  thought  shall  keep  their 
faith  with  the  people  and  give  them  a  system 
of  thought  and  truth  in  keeping  with  the  high 
ideals  of  the  “Faith  of  Our  Fathers”  who  pur¬ 
chased  these  great  truths  with  sacrifice  and 
blood. 

We  can  understand  the  infamy  which  led 
the  ancient  king  to  cut  up  the  parchment  of 
the  Old  Testament  with  his  penknife,  we  can 
comprehend  how  the  higher  critic  may  be  led 
to  slash  away  at  the  King  J ames  version  of  the 


206 


same  Book,  but  it  is  past  our  understanding 
how  men  who  are  consecrated  to  the  high  office 
of  educating  ministers  and  these  ministers 
themselves  who  have  devoted  their  lives  to  sav¬ 
ing  souls  can  mar  the  face  of  the  Christ  by  at¬ 
tempting  to  rob  Him  of  the  “express  image  of 
the  Father  full  of  grace  and  truth.” 

Protestantism  on  its  human  side  has  many 
weaknesses,  as  we  have  attempted  to  show,  all 
of  which  may  and  probably  will  be  remedied 
by  the  devotion  and  consecration  of  its  loyal 
supporters,  hut  nothing  can  withstand  a  suc¬ 
cessful  attack  of  the  enemies  of  its  own  house¬ 
hold  against  the  divine  nature  and  person  of 
the  Founder  of  Christiannity.  Once  this  un¬ 
righteous  leaven  permeates  the  body  of  the 
Church,  Her  hope  of  world  conquest  for 
Christ  and  human  redemption  will  fade  away 
and  God  will  raise  up  another  people  who  will 
know  and  understand  Him  better. 


207 


CHAPTER  XIII 

WILL  PROTESTANTISM  BE 
OVERTHROWN? 


WILL  PROTESTANTISM  BE 
OVERTHROWN? 


WHO  can  tell?  Protestantism  is  a  human 
institution,  Christianity  alone  is  divine. 
Greater  organizations  than  this  have 
risen  and  fallen  by  reason  of  their  own 
weakness  and  folly.  It  is  marvelous  in  view  of 
centuries  of  mistakes  and  omissions  how  God 
has  patiently  tried  us  out.  It  is  equally  amaz¬ 
ing  what  great  things  have  been  accomplished, 
in  the  midst  of  which  we  have  dreamed  and 
hoped  for  the  ‘CROWNING  DAY”  of 
Christendom,  but  that  day  will  never  come 
until  we  admit  and  maintain  the  divine  Roy- 
alty  of  the  King  and  declare  His  supremacy 
over  all  human  competitors.  We  can  have  no 
SPIRITUAL  kingdom  without  a  divine 
Head.  The  world  wants  nothing  less  and  will 
not  be  satisfied  with  a  religion  that  offers  less. 


A  GREAT  ISSUE  WHICH  MUST  BE  FACED 

In  that  popular  magazine  known  as  “The 
World’s  Work”  there  appeared  recently  an 
article  styled,  “A  Clear  Statement  of  the 
Strange  Situation  That  is  Now  Troubling 
Many  Protestant  Churches,”  which  is  further 
described  as  being  a  dispute  between  the 
“Fundamentalists”  and  the  “New  School”  of 
the  Protestant  churches. 


211 


The  article  referred  to  relates  at  consider¬ 
able  length  the  experiences  of  a  minister  who 
has  spent  forty  years  in  the  Methodist  minis¬ 
try  and  who  has  been  retired  on  account  of  his 
modern  views  concerning  certain  parts  of  the 
Old  Testament.  It  does  not  appear  that  he 
has  declared  himself  at  variance  with  the  fun¬ 
damentals  of  Christianity,  such  as  the  divinity 
of  Christ  or  the  divine  origin  of  the  Christian 
religion.  His  advanced  thought,  so-called, 
seems  to  have  been  arrested  on  the  threshold 
of  the  New  Testament  and  as  he  says  “I  must 
stand  with  Christ  and  His  teachings”  by  which 
we  presume  that  he  means  all  of  His  teach¬ 
ings. 

We  were  impressed  with  the  fact  that  there 
is  nothing  unusual  in  this  article  and  at  first 
the  question  raised  in  our  minds  was  this: 
“Why  did  so  important  a  publication  give 
space  and  prominence  to  what  appears  upon 
its  face  to  be  a  commonplace  incident  of  purely 
personal  interest  to  a  few  parties  concerned?” 

But  its  importance  to  the  general  public  lies 
in  the  fact  that  it  is  a  “straw”  indicating  the  di¬ 
rection  in  which  the  winds  of  liberal  thought 
and  “New  School”  ideas  are  blowing. 

This  we  venture  to  say  is  not  the  only  Meth¬ 
odist  pulpit,  by  many  a  score,  from  which  sim¬ 
ilar  ideas  are  being  advanced.  But  what  would 


212 


John  Wesley,  Knox,  Newman,  Jonathan  Ed¬ 
wards  and  many  others  think  if 
visit  the  churches  bearing  their  distinctive 
names  and  listen  to  some  of  the  discourses  de¬ 
livered  under  the  title  of  sermons  supposed  to 
contain  at  least  some  of  the  old  doctrine  and 
fervor  ? 

But  if  this  is  the  condition  in  many  Metho¬ 
dist  churches,  how  shall  we  view  the  situation 
in  that  larger  aggregation  of  churches  whose 
seminaries,  theological  training  and  Church 
polity  offer  a  greater  liberty  of  thought  that 
have  in  recent  years  thrown  down  the  bars  and 
in  many  instances  have  thrown  them  away  ? 

The  writer  happened  to  be  present  a  few 
months  ago  in  a  church  where  a  young  man 
from  one  of  the  leading  theological  schools  was 
being  examined  for  the  ministry.  The  learned 
Council  asked  the  candidate  this  question, 
"What  are  your  ideas  concerning  the  divinity 
of  Christ?”  He  promptly  replied,  “I  feel  that 
Christ  was  inspired,  but  He  was  inspired  in 
the  same  sense  that  Dante,  Milton  and  Shake¬ 
speare  were  inspired,  perhaps  even  to  a  greater 
extent.”  No  further  questions  were  asked  and 
he  was  ordained. 

If  our  theological  schools  can  only  go  on 
turning  out  a  sufficiently  large  percentage  of 
such  candidates  for  the  “holy  office”  and  such 


they  were  to 


213 


men  can  get  into  the  pulpits  in  sufficiently 
large  numbers,  another  half  century  will  wit¬ 
ness  THE  OVERTHROW  OF  PROT¬ 
ESTANTISM. 

What  we  are  saying  is  not  a  protest  against 
the  “New  School.”  It  must  be  conceded  that 
on  its  human  side  and  in  its  varied  activities 
the  Church  must  keep  pace  with  modern  life 
and  needs.  If  there  are,  as  indeed  it  would 
appear  there  are,  scientific  and  historical 
errors  in  the  language  or  statements  of  the 
Bible  which  might  prove  confusing  to  the  un¬ 
trained  reader,  then  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Church  to  correct  these  errors  where  correction 
is  needed  and  explain  them  where  explanation 
is  sufficient.  But  to  the  man  who  assumes  the 
right  to  change  or  eliminate  fundamentals 
necessary  to  the  existence  and  mission  of 
Christianity  and  attempts  to  teach  others  so  to 
do,  to  such  a  man  the  Church  should  deliver 
the  ultimatum  which  it  has  a  right  to  deliver 
and  exercise  the  prerogatives  which  are  inher¬ 
ent  in  an  institution  representing  six  hundred 
millions  of  the  human  race. 

It  may  give  a  thrill  to  the  young  preacher 
who  starts  out  to  practice  upon  his  first  con¬ 
gregation  to  feel  that  his  new  thought  and  ad¬ 
vanced  theories  are  a  challenge  to  his  people 
and  that  he  is  bearing  to  them  a  highly  sea- 


214 


soned  viand  upon  the  golden  platter  of  intel¬ 
lectual  superiority.  It  may  even  seem  to  him 
that  he  is  making  a  profound  impression  upon 
the  immature  minds  of  his  audience,  but  a 

later  disco verv  will  alarm  him  for  the  safetv  of 

«/  •/ 

his  new  found  ideas,  for  these  same  people  will 
do  as  the  French  did  who  saw  Louis  XVI  pro¬ 
ceeding  to  Paris  in  his  gilded  coach,  they  will 
ask  for  bread;  they  will  cry  for  the  bread  of 
life,  and  when  it  is  not  forthcoming  they  will 
ignore  the  gold  and  glitter  and  demand  satis¬ 
faction  at  any  cost.  In  other  words,  it  is  quite 
within  the  range  of  possibilities  that  in  at¬ 
tempting  what  seems  to  be  a  reform  in  re¬ 
ligion,  we  may  later  on  be  called  upon  to  face 
a  revolution  in  Christian  thought  which  will 
awake  the  Church  from  its  apathy  and  the  pul¬ 
pit  to  its  duty. 

Then  again  we  must  reflect  that  all  the 
countries  of  the  world  are  open  to  us.  What 
are  we  going  to  take  into  these  lands,  if  we 
enter  them  with  a  religion  shorn  of  its  super¬ 
natural  power  and  its  divine  authority?  If  its 
Author  is  represented  as  being  no  greater  and 
not  as  well  known  as  the  founders  of  other  re¬ 
ligions,  then  we  had  better  conserve  our  re¬ 
sources  for  some  wiser  scheme.  Our  mission¬ 
aries  have  been  telling  these  peoples  that  the 
Christian  religion  is  of  divine  origin,  that 


215 


Christ  is  the  Son  of  God,  that  this  fact  fits 
Him  to  be  what  He  claimed  to  be,  “the  Way, 
the  Truth  and  the  Life.”  That  His  teachings 
are  infallible  and  final,  that  they,  the  mission¬ 
aries  have  been  duly  and  especially  ordained 
to  deliver  these  truths,  than  which  there  are 
none  greater.  That  it  is  the  wish  and  prayer 
the  Church  at  Home,  that  they,  the  benighted 
or  misled  peoples  of  the  world  shall  be  bene¬ 
fited  in  time  and  through  all  eternity  by  the 
acceptance  of  the  CHRIST  WHO  WAS 
SENT  to  save  a  world. 

This  is  what  we  have  said,  what  we  are  still 
saying  with  some  mental  reservations  and  ex¬ 
ceptions.  Where  are  the  men  coming  from  in 
the  next  generations  who  will  unflinchingly 
utter  these  same  truths  and  if  necessary  attest 
them  with  their  blood?  They  certainly  are  not 
coming  in  any  great  numbers  from  our  theo¬ 
logical  schools,  nor  can  many  of  our  Churches 
be  said  to  be  hot  houses  in  which  such  minds 
are  being  matured,  then  where  in  sufficient 
numbers  are  they  coming  from?  We  have  sur¬ 
rounded  the  ministry  with  social  advantages, 
so-called,  to  the  point  of  obscuring  the  old 
time  distinction.  We  have  raised  salaries  all 
along  the  line  in  order  to  create  independence 
and  make  the  calling  attractive.  We  have 
thrown  down  barrier  after  barrier  in  the  hope 


216 


of  keeping  the  courageous  and  worth  while 
men  in  the  ecclesiastical  ranks  and  yet  the  best 
and  brainiest,  the  keenest  and  most  promising 
are  going  over  to  the  commercial  world  in 
larger  numbers  than  ever  before  to  find  what? 
Not  only  financial  remuneration  but  fields  of 
practical  usefulness  where  they  can  minister 
satisfactorily  with  a  clear  conscience  to  the 
world  and  to  themselves. 

Contrary  to  what  might  be  expected,  these 
conditions  prevail  more  commonly  among  the 
Protestant  Churches  where  there  is  a  lack  of 
central  organization  and  supreme  authority, 
whilst  that  part  of  the  Church  where  authority 
and  the  old  standards  of  Truth  are  still  main¬ 
tained  continues  to  attract  and  hold  men  to  its 
ministry.  This  fact  need  not  be  stressed  here, 
because  its  significance  is  evident  and  ought 
to  arouse  the  attention  of  thinking  people. 

That  which  has  attracted  men  to  the  min¬ 
istry  in  the  past  is  the  claims  of  the  Church  to 
a  divine  Leadership  and  Gospel  and  these 
alone  will  hold  us  to  our  supreme  task. 


217 


ONE  OF  ENGLAND’S  DISTIN¬ 
GUISHED  DIVINES,  DR.  OR¬ 
CHARD  OF  LONDON,  HAS 
THIS  TO  SAY 

Nr^lUCH  HOPES  CAN  ONLY  BE  REALIZED 
AS  WE  GO  BACK  TO  THE  CATHOLICITY 
OF  THE  TEACHINGS  OF  CHRIST.  .  .  . 
IT  IS  FOLLOWING  NAMES  INSTEAD 
OF  CHRIST  THAT  HAS  RUINED  US  ALL. 
IT  IS  THE  ATTEMPT  TO  EMPLOY 
WORLDLY  POWER  INSTEAD  OF  THE 
WISDOM  OF  THE  CROSS  THAT  HAS 
ENSLAVED  US.  IT  IS  FALSE  SCHOLAR¬ 
SHIP  THAT  HAS  GIVEN  US  A  DIVIDED 
CHRIST.  ONLY  AS  WE  REDISCOVER 
THE  ONE  CATHOLIC  CHRIST  SHALL 
WE  BE  ABLE  TO  BUILD  THE  ONE 
CATHOLIC  CHURCH.” 

IT  IS  NOT  A  UNITED  BRITISH  CHURCH  OR 
A  UNITED  AMERICAN  CHURCH  THAT  WE 
NEED.  WE  CANNOT  REMAIN  CONTENT 
WITH  ANYTHING  LESS  THAN  A  UNITED 
CHRISTENDOM. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


A  DREAM  THAT  MAY  COME  TRUE 


A  DREAM  THAT  MAY  COME  TRUE 


JUST  as  civilized  nations  have  determined 
upon  a  limitation  of  armaments  unless 
for  defensive  purposes,  so  the  Church  is 
going  to  scrap  her  offensive  weapons  with 
which  one  denomination  has  been  fighting  the 
other  for  centuries.  Not  only  so,  but  there  is 
a  rapidly  growing  feeling  among  great  think¬ 
ers  that  the  time  is  approaching  when  an  all- 
inclusive  Catholic  church  will  replace  the 
hundred  and  one  contending  sects  now  repre¬ 
senting  Christendom.  It  would  not  be  a  rash 
statement  to  sav  that  there  are  millions  both 
inside  and  outside  our  churches  who  would  hail 
such  a  movement  with  delight. 

Such  a  church  would,  of  course,  include  all 
parts  of  Protestantism,  now  known  as  denomi¬ 
nations.  It  would  also  include  the  Com¬ 
munion  known  as  the  Roman  Catholic  church, 
but  it  would  not  include  any  of  these  because 
of  the  names  they  now  bear,  or  the  different 
non-essential  beliefs  they  may  now  have,  but 
because  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  and 
Faith  which  we  all  share  in  common.  And  for 
a  still  greater  reason,  namely  that  the  world 
and  the  churches  are  weary  of  divisions  and 
inefficiency  and  are  longing  to  come  together 


223 


under  one  great  Name  and  unifying  Power 
for  the  purpose  of  meeting  their  obligations  to 
mankind. 

Any  league  of  churches  which  excludes 
from  its  communion  any  one  of  the  Christian 
communions  willing  to  enter  it  must  fail,  just 
as  a  league  of  nations  excluding  any  civilized 
nations  willing  to  join  will  be  a  failure.  No 
world-wide  Christian  movement  will  achieve 
any  measure  of  success  which  does  not  include 
within  its  union  all  the  Christians  of  the  world 
it  claims  to  serve. 

Even  to  suggest  the  exclusion  of  any  part 
of  Christendom  is  to  prejudge  it  and  to  assume 
what  we  have  no  right  to  assume,  that  it  is 
unable  or  unwilling  to  meet  the  issue  upon 
fair  and  equitable  grounds.  Just  as  we  are 
unable  to  foresee  and  predict  concerning  any 
other  great  event  just  what  may  happen  at 
the  crucial  moment,  so  we  are  unable  to  pre¬ 
dict  what  may  transpire  when  this  great  issue 
is  placed  squarely  up  to  the  Christian  people 
of  the  world. 

Already  we  think  we  can  hear  the  protest 
of  Protestant  reader  against  the  autocracy  and 
mysticism  of  the  Catholic  church,  its  rigid 
observance  of  ceremonials  and  the  much  talked 
of  but  little  understood  doctrine  of  “Transub- 


224 


stantiation,”  the  reverence  shown  to  martyrs; 
and  the  cry  will  be  raised,  “Are  we  going  over 
to  Rome?” 

But  over  against  those  things  which  seem  to 
Protestants  to  be  meaningless  and  even  objec¬ 
tionable,  things  to  which  they  find  it  hard  to 
consent  because  perhaps  they  have  not  trained 
their  minds  to  view  them  in  the  same  light  in 
which  they  are  viewed  by  the  Catholics.  Over 
gainst  these  the  great  thinkers  in  Protestant¬ 
ism  are  beginning  to  place  some  outstanding 
facts. 

First,  just  as  the  enterprising  business  men 
of  the  world  are  learning  that  people  are 
reached  and  interested  through  their  outward 
senses  and  that  it  is  possible  to  reach  the  soul 
through  the  medium  of  the  body,  so  the  Catho¬ 
lic  church  has  for  centuries  used  these  cere¬ 
monials  to  introduce  and  instill  great  and  pro¬ 
found  truths  into  the  minds  and  souls  of  their 
communicants.  This  may  be  one  of  the  reasons 
why  every  class  of  people  of  every  degree  of 
intelligence  belong  to  that  Church ;  it  may  also 
suggest  a  degree  of  democracy. 

Second,  it  is  freely  admitted  by  Protestants 
that  they  would  be  willing  to  sacrifice  much, 
if  the  devotion,  reverence  and  loyalty  of  the 
members  of  the  Catholic  church  for  its 
worship  and  service  could  be  duplicated  in  all 

22  5 


the  Protestant  churches  of  the  world,  for  in 
these  days  of  worldliness  it  is  coming  to  be 
recognized  that  the  lack  of  reverence  for  spir¬ 
itual  things  and  sacred  places  is  one  of  the  out¬ 
standing  weaknesses  of  our  times. 

Third,  we  are  forced  to  admit  cheerfully 
that  the  Catholic  church  has  given  the  world 
the  greatest  example  of  unity  among  her  own 
people  that  has  ever  been  witnessed.  What¬ 
ever  may  be  the  cause  for  this  great  united 
purpose  and  action,  the  fact  remains  and  has 
attracted  universal  attention.  We  are  aware 
that  we  shall  he  met  with  various  explanations 
of  this  unique  condition  and  that  many  insinu¬ 
ations  may  be  made  by  uncharitable  critics, 
hut  when  all  is  said  and  done,  this  unity  within 
her  own  borders  has  amazed  the  world. 

Fourth,  there  is  another  still  more  satisfac¬ 
tory  condition  existing  in  the  Catholic  church; 
it  is  the  position  which  the  Founder  of  Christi¬ 
anity  occupies  in  its  worship  and  service.  The 
very  ritual  of  the  Church  makes  it  impossible 
for  the  priest  to  obscure  the  Christ  or  to  limit 
His  presence,  power  or  person.  Christ  and  the 
Cross  are  so  intimately  interwoven  with  all  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Church  that  it  matters  not 
what  personal  prejudices  or  mental  reserva¬ 
tions  the  priest  may  have  he  is  compelled  to 
keep  Christ,  in  all  His  divine  nature,  before 


226 


His  people.  We  are  aware  that  there  are  in¬ 
fluences  named  “modernism”  creeping  into  the 
Catholic  Communion,  but  as  we  have  already 
noticed,  the  Church  has  the  supreme  authority 
and  central  organization  with  which  to  chal¬ 
lenge  and  check  these  evils,  if  they  may  be 
called  such. 

In  fine,  it  is  dawning  upon  the  world  that 
both  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  have 
much  to  give  and  something  to  take  from 
each  other.  It  is  not  inconceiveable  that  out  of 
all  the  great  factors  and  forces  represented  in 
both,  we  might  attempt  and  ought  to  attempt 
the  great  task  of  bringing  the  Christian  world 
into  one  great  organization  to  be  known  by  a 
name  which  will  adequately  and  worthily  set 
its  aims  and  ideals  before  mankind. 

WHAT  IS  TO  BE  GAINED  BY  SUCH  A  CHURCH? 

One  great  advantage  would  be  the  courage 
and  faith  it  would  inspire.  A  new  hope  would 
spring  forth.  The  last  shade  of  doubt  as  to 
the  final  outcome  of  Christianity  would  fade 
away.  Nothing  could  withstand  a  united 
Christendom.  Then  the  time,  money  and 
energy  now  used  to  support  divided  interests 
could  be  turned  into  the  main  channel  of  un¬ 
divided  service  and  Christian  effort. 


227 


Another  result  would  be  seen  in  the  ability 
of  the  Church  to  prevent  war  with  all  its 
horrors.  It  could  bring  “peace  on  earth  and 
good  will  to  men.”  It  could  prevent  social 
disorders  which,  because  of  their  age-long 
duration,  are  sometimes  worse  than  war. 

It  could  meet  the  needs  of  a  crushed  world 
and  restore  it  again  to  normalcy.  It  could 
stem  the  tide  of  crime  and  place  moral  force 
behind  civic  law.  In  a  word,  all  the  things 
which  are  now  being  attempted,  with  little  or 
limited  success,  could  then  be  accomplished 
by  a  UNITED  CHURCH. 

What  we  are  asking  for  is  ONE 
CHURCH,  broad  enough,  charitable  enough, 
and  loving  enough  to  gather  to  itself  all  who 
love  and  serve  Christ.  Are  we  asking  too 
much?  Could  we  conscientiously  ask  LESS? 
Do  we  propose  to  answer  the  prayer  of  the 
Christ ;  if  so,  how  are  we  going  to  do  it  with  a 
hundred  camps  set  up  on  the  same  field,  each 
in  the  attitude  of  rivalry  with  the  other?  Let 
us  remember  that  Christ’s  wish  is  equivalent 
to  a  command.  He  commands  us  to  BE 
ONE.  Can  we  say,  “Thy  will  be  done?”  It 
is  either  that  or  defeat  and  failure.  Which  is 
it  to  be? 


228 


CHAPTER  XV 


MINISTERS  WHO  ARE  ENGAGED 
IN  OVERTHROWING  PROT¬ 
ESTANTISM 


MINISTERS  WHO  ARE  ENGAGED 
IN  OVERTHROWING  PROT¬ 
ESTANTISM 


AT  THE  time  of  this  writing,  from  the 
front  pages  of  practically  all  our  lead¬ 
ing  newspapers  are  blazing  articles 
with  sensational  headlines  concerning  a  clergy¬ 
man  who  has  gone  so  far  as  to  publicly  deny 
the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  consecration  of 
churches.  In  a  discourse  recently,  this  man, 
who  is  the  pastor  of  an  important  church, 
made  many  startling  statements,  such  as  “the 
consecration  of  churches  is  a  survival  of  the 
ages  of  witchcraft.  Christ  did  not  have  the 
power  of  God.  He  did  perform  miracles,  but 

in  the  same  wav  as  M.  Coue.  The  sacredness 

« / 

of  marriage  is  not  in  its  solemnization  but  in 
the  conduct  of  the  parties  one  toward  the 
other.  That  a  man  when  he  goes  into  the  pul¬ 
pit  ought  to  feel  as  free  as  Voltaire.  That 
ignorance  and  credulity  favor  the  miracu¬ 
lous.”  He  also  states,  “Ministers  are  not 
natural  in  their  pulpits,  they  do  not  say  what 
they  believe  and  that  the  way  to  know  them 
and  get  the  real  things  they  believe  is  to  meet 
them  in  clubs  and  at  dinners.” 

If  all  this  minister  says  in  his  discourse  is 
true  (which  we  are  by  no  means  ready  to 


231 


admit)  then,  we  need  no  better  proof  of  our 
claim  that,  what  we  need  is  a  united  effort  to 
SAVE  PROTESTANTISM,  and  indeed 
Christianity  itself,  from  being  overthrown. 
For,  if  they  are  to  be  stripped  of  these  spirit¬ 
ual  elements  by  men  who  believe  and  feel  as 
he  does,  the  world  will  soon  find  itself  bereft  of 
a  divine  religion,  which  is  the  only  kind  capa¬ 
ble  of  controlling  the  natural  conditions  of  the 
race.  He  declares  that  men  who  have  attended 
our  universities,  studied  mathematics  and  the 
sciences,  cannot  believe  in  the  miraculous. 
Does  he  realize  what  a  small  percentage  of  the 
sixteen  hundred  millions  of  people  in  the 
world  have,  like  himself,  been  privileged  to 
study  the  sciences,  to  say  nothing  of  the  bil¬ 
lions  who  have  already  passed  over  without 
knowing  about  them?  Was  Christianity 
launched  and  designed  to  flatter  the  conceit 
of  a  mere  handful  of  the  human  race  who,  be¬ 
cause  they  have  studied  science,  would  have  us 
believe  that  they  know  more  than  Christ  knew 
when  He  said,  “ALL  POWER  IS  GIVEN 
TO  ME  IN  HEAVEN  AND  IN  THE 
EARTH.  I  HAVE  POWER  TO  LAY 
DOWN  MY  LIFE  AND  I  HAVE 
POWER  TO  TAKE  IT  UP  AGAIN.” 
Was  not  this  the  power  of  God? 


232 


Now  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  great  scientists 
of  the  world,  not  those  who  have  taken  a  text 
book  course  in  our  universities,  but  the  men 
who  have  devoted  their  lives  to  science,  who 
have  been  steeped  in  it  and  who  have  forgotten 
more  than  most  of  our  so-called  students  of 
science  ever  knew,  these  are  among  the  most 
reverent  and  devout  men  of  all  times.  And 
why?  Because  in  their  long  journey  into  the 
realm  of  science  they  have  come  to  a  place 
where  reason  and  natural  laws  would  conduct 
them  no  farther,  they  have  come  face  to  face 
with  the  supernatural,  the  spiritual,  that  is,  to 
say  with  God. 

If  there  is  anything  clear  and  plain  in  the 
teachings  and  claims  of  Christ  it  is  that  He 
came  forth  from  God,  that  He  was  ONE 
WITH  GOD,  that  all  power  was  given  Him 
of  God,  that  the  Father  sent  the  SON  to  be 
the  Saviour  of  the  world.  If,  as  the  Doctor 
says,  “Christ  did  not  possess  the  power  of 
God;”  then,  these  claims  must  be  abandoned 
and  with  them  the  INTEGRITY  AND 
TRUTHFULNESS  OF  CHRIST. 

This  bold  clergyman  objects  to  the  consecra¬ 
tion  of  church  buildings  because  of  the  waste 
through  their  not  being  available  for  secular 
uses.  W e  agree  with  him  that  churches  should 
be  used  more  than  they  are,  but  we  cannot 


233 


concede  his  wish  to  use  them  for  secular  pur¬ 
poses.  We  believe  that  one  of  the  outstanding 
weaknesses  of  the  Protestant  churches  to-dav 
is  the  lack  of  reverence  and  respect  for  sacred 
buildings.  If  our  church  buildings  are  to  be 
used  as  lecture  halls  and  music  academies, 
movies,  etc.,  then,  the  spirit  of  worship  will 
die  out  of  the  human  heart.  His  statement 
that  towns  and  cities  do  not  have  proper  ac¬ 
commodations  for  such  meetings  is  scarcely  in 
keeping  with  the  facts.  Nothing  is  more 
noticeable  in  recent  years  than  that,  nearly 
every  town  and  village  has  some  hall  or  build¬ 
ing  not  only  suited  for  gatherings  such  as  he 
names;  but  in  most  cases,  the  supply  of  such 
buildings  exceeds  the  demand. 

One  of  the  strong  points  in  the  Catholic 
church  is  that  she  never  permits  secular  gath¬ 
ering  within  the  walls  of  the  buildings  conse¬ 
crated  to  worship.  This  also  may  explain 
the  lack  of  other  conditions  which  do  not  exist 
in  Protestant  churches. 

Why  should  a  man  when  he  goes  into  the 
pulpit  feel  as  free  as  Voltaire?  Not  a  very 
flattering  comparison  to  make;  nor,  is  Vol¬ 
taire,  now  that  he  has  been  dead  so  long,  and 
his  name  is  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  high 
minded  men,  very  good  company  for  a  Prot¬ 
estant  minister  to  be  found  in.  Why  bring 


234 


him  out  of  the  dim  past?  Why  not  speak  of 
Phillips  Brooks,  Charming,  Robertson  of 
Brighton,  men  who  died  as  they  lived  and 
lived  so  as  to  leave  the  world  richer  because 
they  lived?  These  men  were  free.  Voltaire 
was  a  slave  to  passion  and  hate. 

According  to  the  declarations  of  this  dis¬ 
course,  which  unfortunately  secured  a  wide 
reading  among  many  who  might  take  it  seri¬ 
ously,  we  are  in  more  danger  from  attacks 
within  the  Church  than  from  without.  “Gone 
forever  the  sacredness  of  churches.  Miracles 
are  no  longer  believable.  Marriage  is  only 
made  sacred  bv  human  relations.  Christ  has 
not  the  power  of  God,  therefore  is  not  Divine. 
Ministers  are  no  longer  loyal  to  their  vows  and 
the  teachings  of  Christ.” 

The  man  who  takes  this  position  and  teaches 
these  things,  it  matters  not  where  he  lives  or 
what  church  he  belongs  to,  is  consciously  or 
unconsciously  pointing  the  way  to  the  over¬ 
throw  of  Protestantism;  for,  when  the  masses 
discover,  if  they  ever  should,  that  there  is  no 
more  to  Christianity  than  such  men  would 
have  us  believe,  then  public  sentiment  will 
crystalize  into  abhorrence  of  an  institution 
that  has  turned  its  back  upon  its  Founder  and 
the  fundamentals  that  offered  so  much  and  has 
given  so  little  to  the  world. 


235 


But,  that  time  wilt  never  come.  The  com¬ 
mon  sense  and  good  judgment  of  the  average 
church  member  and  follower  of  Christ  is  going 
to  rise  superior  to  that  of  some  of  its  leaders 
and  they  are  going  to  demand  that  Chris¬ 
tianity  shall  keep  the  Christ  who  died  and  rose 
again  for  it.  The  doctrines  for  which  its 
martyrs  perished  and  the  Gospel  which  has 
given  it  the  greatest  hope,  “For  the  life  that 
now  is  and  that  which  is  to  come.” 


236 


LOVE  IS  THE  ONLY  TIE 


PAUL  SAID  THAT  NOTHING  SHALL  BE 
ABLE  TO  SEPARATE  “US,”  NOT  ME, 
FROM  THE  LOVE  OF  GOD.  THE  CHRIS¬ 
TIAN  TIE  IS  NOT  AN  INDIVIDUAL  TIE, 
BUT  A  FRATERNAL  TIE.  IT  IS  A  TIE 
THAT  BINDS  CHRISTIANS  TOGETHER, 
AND  THUS  UNITED  THEY  ARE  UNITED 
TO  GOD.  NO  CHRISTIAN  CAN  SEPARATE 
HIMSELF  FROM  HIS  BRETHREN,  AND 
CLAIM  AN  INDIVIDUAL  TIE  WITH  GOD. 
“FOR  HE  THAT  LOVETH  NOT  HIS 
BROTHER  WHOM  HE  HATH  SEEN,  CAN¬ 
NOT  LOVE  GOD  WHOM  HE  HATH  NOT 
SEEN.”  LOVE  IS  THE  ONLY  INFLUENCE 
IN  THE  WORLD  THAT  CAN  BRING  PEO¬ 
PLE  TOGETHER  AND  KEEP  THEM  TO¬ 
GETHER.  LOVE  IS  THE  ONLY  TIE  THAT 
CAN  KEEP  A  HOME  TOGETHER,  AND  IT 
IS  THE  ONLY  TIE  THAT  CAN  KEEP  A 
CHURCH  TOGETHER.  MANY  CHRIS¬ 
TIANS  HAVE  TRUSTED  A  COMMON 
FAITH  TO  KEEP  THEM  TOGETHER. 
THEY  BELIEVED  THE  SAME  THINGS, 
AND  THEY  TRUSTED  THIS  TIE  TO  KEEP 
THEM  TOGETHER  IN  THE  BOND  OF 
PEACE;  BUT  IT  FAILED.  A  COMMON 
FAITH,  HOWEVER  STRONG,  CANNOT 
MAINTAIN  THE  BOND  OF  CHRISTIAN 
BROTHERHOOD.  ONLY  A  COMMON 
LOVE  CAN  DO  THIS.  THE  STRONG 
HEAT  OF  A  FERVENT  COMMON  LOVE  IS 
THE  ONLY  INFLUENCE  THAT  CAN 
MELT  AND  UNITE  HEARTS  IN  A  LAST¬ 
ING  BOND  OF  CHRISTIAN  UNITY;  BUT 
THIS,  AS  STATED  BY  PAUL,  CAN  AND 
WILL  UNITE  ALL  CHRISTIANS  THAT 
ALLOW  THE  LOVE  OF  GOD  TO  HAVE  ITS 
WAY  IN  THEIR  HEARTS  AND  OVER 
THEIR  LIVES. — Rev.  John  B.  Cowden  in 
Christian  Worship,  West  Nashville,  Tenn. 


WAS  THIS  ENEMY  OF  ORGANIZED 
CHRISTIANITY  RIGHT? 


Thirty-five  years  ago  Robert  in- 

GERSOLL  SAID:  “THE  PULPIT  IS  LOS¬ 
ING  ITS  POSITION.  IT  SPEAKS  NO 
LONGER  WITH  AUTHORITY.  THE  PEW 
DETERMINES  WHAT  IT  SHALL  SAY. 
PEOPLE  PAY  FOR  WHAT  THEY  WISH 
TO  HEAR.  NOW  AND  THEN  THE 
PREACHER  SAYS  A  RADICAL  THING. 
THE  NEXT  SUNDAY  HE  TAKES  IT  BACK 
OR  MODIFIES  IT  TO  SUIT  THE  OTHER 
HALF  OF  HIS  CONGREGATION.  MOST 
OF  THEM  RIDE  TWO  HORSES  AND 
THEIR  TIME  IS  TAKEN  UP  IN  URGING 
ONE  FORDWARD  AND  KEEPING  THE 
OTHER  BACK.” 


OF  THIS  WE  ARE  AT  LEAST  CERTAIN,  IF 
THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  PULPIT  IS  NOT 
SAFEGUARDED,  THE  FUTURE  OF 
PROTESTANTISM  IS  UNCERTAIN  AND 
UNSAFE. 


This  conviction  is  deeper  seated 

AND  MORE  COMMON  THAN  SOME  OF 
OUR  LEADERS  CARE  TO  ADMIT. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


SPIRITUAL  UNITY 


SPIRITUAL  UNITY 


THIS  is  the  first  great  essential.  With 
this  we  can  Do  all  things,  without  it  we 
can  accomplish  nothing  that  will  stand. 

It  is  THE  SUPREME  FACTOR— 

HOW  MAY  WE  SECURE  IT? 

Some  existing  organization,  sufficiently  rep¬ 
resentative  of  all  other  Christian  bodies  could 
commence  a  world  propaganda  for  the  secur¬ 
ing  of  three  results.  Proposing  first,  that 
every  minister  or  Christian  worker  include  in 

%j 

their  public  prayers  each  Sunday  a  petition  for 
all  churches  bearing  the  Christian  name  and 
for  definite  unity.  Second,  that  at  stated  in- 
tervals,  say  once  a  month,  ministers  of  all  de¬ 
nominations  should  be  asked  to  embody  in  their 
sermon  reports,  statements  or  favorable  opin¬ 
ions  of  what  is  being  done  by  some  other 
branch  of  the  CHURCH  outside  their  own 
denomination.  Third,  that  all  church  papers 
should  carry  a  page  or  some  part  of  their  re¬ 
spective  organs,  open  to  friendly  comments 
and  notices  of  what  other  denominations  are 
doing  and  urging  the  churches  and  ministers 
not  “To  look  upon  their  own  things  alone,  but 
upon  the  things  of  others.” 


243 


WHAT  EACH  DENOMINATION  CAN  DO  TO  HELP 

Every  large  denomination  could  appoint  a 
special  representative  of  Church  Unity  to 
represent  it  at  conferences  and  to  visit  the 
churches  in  the  interest  of  unity,  conveying 
messages  and  greetings  from  the  churches  of 
his  own  denomination  to  others.  A  Church 
Unity  department  could  be  maintained  in  the 
educational  departments  of  the  various  bodies, 
publishing  fundamental  facts  and  features 
concerning  the  great  movement  for  unity  and 
giving  modern  views  of  doctrines.  New  and 
popular  hymns  could  be  written  containing 
sentiments  of  unity  such  as  could  be  used  in 
any  or  all  churches. 

LOOKING  TOWARD  ORGANIC  UNION 

We  use  this  term  because  we  appreciate  the 
fact  that  nothing  definite  in  this  direction  can 
be  attempted  now.  But  a  Commission  should 
be  chosen,  composed  of  the  greatest  minds 
among  the  laity  and  clergy  of  all  Christian 
churches,  to  consider  and  determine  upon  the 
available  and  possible  grounds  of  unity  which 
might  be  acceptable  to  the  peoples  of  all 
shades  of  Christian  faith  and  doctrine. 

This  Commission  should  publish  its  findings 
and  conclusions  to  the  world,  also  explain  to 
the  ministers  of  all  denominations  the  precise 


244 


meaning  of  certain  conflicting  beliefs  and  the 
possible  means  of  blending  these  beliefs,  so 
that  by  modification  or  better  interpretation 
they  can  be  made  the  basis  of  unity.  In  their 
turn  the  ministers  could  present  these  views  to 
their  respective  churches. 

Such  a  High  Commission  would  have  to 
consider  a  vast  number  of  problems  bearing 
directly  upon  the  supreme  matter  of  Church 
Unity  and  others  correlated  to  the  main  ques¬ 
tion.  It  might  also  act  as  an  advisory  body  to 
stimulate  adherence  to  the  Fundamental  Doc¬ 
trines  of  Christianity. 

In  this  manner,  a  decade  might  pass  during 
which  time  the  denominations  and  churches 
under  the  influence  of  PRAYER,  PROPA¬ 
GANDA  and  mutual  relation  would  be 
brought  into  sympathy  with  the  movement 
and  its  aims.  Then,  with  so  much  devotion, 
knowledge  and  mutual  interest  created,  it 
would  be  strange  indeed  if  some  new  light 
should  not  dawn  and  with  it  an  opportunity 
present  itself  to  commence  the  building  for 
which  the  foundation  would  have  been  laid. 

THE  CHURCH  MUST  TAKE  THE  PEOPLE  INTO 

ITS  CONFIDENCE 

It  must  also  take  sixteen  hundred  millions 
of  them  under  consideration.  It  would  not 


245 


be  an  easy  task.  It  is  much  more  difficult  to 
build  up  a  new  country  or  civilization  than  it 
is  to  rebuild  an  old  one.  It  may  also  cost  more 
in  sacrifice  and  surrender  to  rebuild  Christian¬ 
ity  into  one  great  Church  than  it  did  to  build 
what  we  now  have;  but,  with  the  good  will  of 
the  people,  the  consecrated  genius  of  wise 
leaders  and  Divine  guidance,  it  would  seem  to 
be  possible  of  accomplishment. 

TWO  THINGS  OF  WHICH  WE  ARE  SURE 

In  the  dim  shadows  of  the  evening,  when 
the  world  is  fearful  lest  they  may  again  lose 
the  Christ  and  are  saying,  “ABIDE  WITH 
US.”  He  is  saying  to  a  disappointed  human¬ 
ity,  “LO,  I  AM  WITH  YOU  ALWAYS.” 
It  is  also  certain  that  He  will  keep  His  prom¬ 
ise  to  us  if  WE  KEEP  FAITH  WITH 
HIM. 


“In  Union  There  Is  Strength ” 


246 


God  has  a  plan  of  w  o  r  l  d  re¬ 
demption.  ONE  UNITED  CHRISTIAN 
FELLOWSHIP  OR  CHURCH  IS  THE 
MEANS  OF  CARRYING  OUT  THIS  PLAN. 
A  DIVINE  CHRIST  AND  AN  INSPIRED 
GOSPEL  ARE  FUNDAMENTAL  FAC¬ 
TORS.  ITS  MISSION  IS  TO  PREACH 
GOOD  TIDINGS  TO  THE  PEOPLE,  TO 
BIND  UP  THE  BROKENHEARTED,  TO 
OFFER  LIBERTY,  TO  PROCLAIM  THE 
ACCEPTABLE  YEAR  OF  THE  LORD,  TO 
SAVE  MEN  AND  TPIUS  GLORIFY  GOD. 


CHAPTER  XVII 


WHAT  THE  MEMBERS  OF  THE 
BODY  OF  CHRIST  PROFESS 
TO  BELIEVE 


NOTE  THE  COMMON  GROUNDS  FOR  POSSIBLE  UNITY 


A  STATEMENT  OF  THE  DOC¬ 
TRINAL  BELIEFS  OF  NINE  OF 
THE  LARGEST  CHURCHES 
OF  THE  WORLD 


THESE  brief  statements  are  inserted 
here  for  the  information  of  the  general 
reader.  We  think  their  study  will  show 
that  fundamentally,  and  upon  those  matters 
vital  to  human  redemption  and  progress,  we 

are  already  allied.  In  matters  of  non-essen- 

%/ 

tials  and  administration,  we  can  afford  to 
differ  for  the  sake  of  speedily  and  loyally  car¬ 
rying  out  our  Great  mission  to  the  World. 


WHAT  BAPTISTS  BELIEVE 

The  cardinal  principle  of  Baptists  is  im¬ 
plicit  obedience  to  the  plain  teachings  of  the 
Word  of  God.  Under  this  principle,  while 
maintaining  with  other  evangelical  bodies  the 
great  truths  of  the  Christian  religion,  they 
hold :  ( 1 )  That  the  churches  are  independent 

in  their  local  affairs;  (2)  that  there  should  be 
an  entire  separation  of  church  and  state;  (3) 
that  liberty  or  freedom  in  matters  of  religion  is 
an  inherent  right  of  the  human  soul;  (4)  that 
a  church  is  a  body  of  regenerated  people  who 
have  been  baptized  on  profession  of  personal 
faith  in  Christ,  and  have  associated  themselves 


251 


in  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel;  (5)  that  infant 
baptism  is  not  only  not  taught  in  the  Scrip¬ 
tures,  but  is  fatal  to  the  spirituality  of  the 
church;  ((>)  that  from  the  meaning  of  the 
word  used  in  the  Greek  text  of  the  Scriptures, 
the  symbolism  of  the  ordinance,  and  the  prac¬ 
tice  of  the  early  church,  immersion  in  water  is 
the  only  proper  mode  of  baptism;  (7)  that  the 
scriptural  officers  of  a  church  are  pastors  and 
deacons;  and  (8)  that  the  Lord’s  Supper  is 
an  ordinance  of  the  church  observed  in  the 
commemoration  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of 
Christ. 

THE  PRINCIPAL  DOCTRINES  OF  THE  ROMAN 
CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  bases  its  doc¬ 
trines  upon  the  Canonical  Books  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  explaining  and  supplementing 
them  by  tradition  expressed  in  written  docu¬ 
ments,  the  more  important  of  which  are  the 
dogmatic  definitions  issued  either  by  an  Ecu¬ 
menical  or  General  Council,  or  by  the  Pope 
speaking  “ex  Cathedra,”  or  as  Head  of  the 
Church.  Such  definitions  are  not  considered 
as  constituting  or  establishing  new  doctrines, 
but  only  as  official  statements  that  the  particu¬ 
lar  doctrine  was  revealed  by  God  and  is  con- 


252 


tained  in  the  “Depositum  Fidei,”  or  Sacred 
Depository  of  Faith  of  the  Church. 

The  Apostles’  Creed,  the  Nicene  Creed, 
and  the  Athanasian  Creed  are  regarded  as 
containing  the  essential  truths  accepted  by  the 
church.  A  general  formula  of  doctrine  is 
presented  in  the  '‘profession  of  faith,”  to  which 
the  assent  must  be  given  by  those  who  join  the 
church.  It  includes  the  rejection  of  all  such 
doctrines  as  have  been  declared  by  the  church 
to  be  wrong,  a  promise  of  obedience  to  the 
church’s  authority  in  matters  of  faith,  and  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  the  following  statement  of  belief : 

One  onlv  God,  in  three  divine  Persons, 
distinct,  and  equal  to  each  other — that  is  to 
say,  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost. 

The  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation, 
Passion,  Death,  and  Resurrection  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ;  and  the  personal  union  of  the 
two  Natures,  the  divine  and  the  human;  the 
divine  Maternity  of  the  most  holy  Mary,  to¬ 
gether  with  her  most  spotless  Virginity; 

The  true,  real,  and  substantial  presence  of 
the  Body  and  Blood,  together  with  the  Soul 
and  Divinity  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in 
the  most  holy  Sacrament  of  the  Eucharist; 

The  seven  Sacraments  instituted  by  Jesus 
Christ  for  the  salvation  of  mankind;  that  is  to 


253 


say,  Baptism,  Confirmation,  Eucharist,  Pen¬ 
ance,  Extreme  Unction,  Orders,  Matrimony. 

THE  CONFESSION  OF  FAITH  OF  THE  CONGREGA¬ 
TIONAL  CHURCH 

A  Confession  of  Faith 

Article  1.  We  confess  our  faith  in  one 
God,  and  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  as  His  Word  to  men,  reveal¬ 
ing  our  ride  of  faith  and  practice. 

Art.  2.  In  accordance  with  our  under¬ 
standing  of  that  Word,  we  confess  our  faith, 
in  the  Three  Persons  of  the  one  God,  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost;  in  the  Divine  eternity 
omniscience,  omnipotence,  and  infinite  holi¬ 
ness,  and  in  God’s  righteous  Providence  over 
men.  We  further  confess  our  sinfulness  by 
nature  and  practice;  our  trust  in  the  way  of 
salvation  graciously  provided,  for  all  men  who 
will  accept  the  same  by  faith,  through  the  vol¬ 
untary  sufferings  and  death  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;  our  obligation  to  all  Christian  obedi¬ 
ence;  and  our  confidence  that  He  who  begins 
His  good  work  in  the  hearts  of  men  will  per¬ 
form  it  until  the  dav  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Art.  3.  We  further  confess  our  faith  in  the 
Lord’s  Day  as  day  of  secular  rest  and  religious 


254 


privilege  and  duty;  in  the  church  local  and 
visible,  including  those  who  covenant  together 
in  one  place,  and  universal  and  invisible,  em¬ 
bracing  all  them  that  in  every  place  call  upon 
the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  both  theirs 
and  ours;  in  the  ordinances  of  Baptism  and 
the  Lord’s  Supper  as  the  heritage  of  the 
church  and  of  the  church  alone;  in  the  resur¬ 
rection  of  the  dead,  and  the  final  judgment, 
(in  which  God  shall  declare  his  righteousness) 
in  the  salvation  of  His  people,  and  the  eter¬ 
nal  rejection  of  His  enemies. 

THE  DOCTRINAL  BELIEF  OF  THE  DISCIPLE 

CHURCH 

In  addition  to  beliefs,  in  which  they  are  in 
general  accord  with  other  Protestant  churches, 
the  Disciples  hold  certain  positions  which  they 
regard  as  distinctive: 

1.  Feeling  that  “to  believe  and  to  do  none 
other  things  than  those  enjoined  by  our  Lord 
and  His  Apostles  must  be  infallibly  safe,” 
they  aim  “to  restore  in  faith  and  spirit  and 
practice  the  Christianity  of  Christ  and  His 
Apostles  as  found  in  the  pages  of  the  New 
Testament.” 


255 


2.  Affirming  that  “the  sacred  Scriptures  as 
given  of  God  answer  all  purposes  of  a  rule  of 
faith  and  practice,  and  a  law  for  the  govern¬ 
ment  of  the  church,  and  that  human  creeds 
and  confessions  of  faith  spring  out  of  contro¬ 
versy  and,  instead  of  being  bonds  of  union, 
tend  to  divison  and  strife,”  they  reject  all  such 
creed  and  confessions. 

3.  They  place  special  emphasis  upon  “the 
Divine  Sonship  of  Jesus,  as  the  fundamental 
fact  of  Holy  Scripture,  the  essential  creed  of 
Christianity,  and  one  article  of  faith  in  order 
to  baptism  and  church  membership.” 

4.  Believing  that  in  the  Scriptures  “a  clear 
distinction  is  made  between  the  law  and  the 
gospel,”  they  “do  not  regard  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  as  of  equally  binding  authority 
upon  Christians,”  but  that  “the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  is  a  perfect  constitution  for  the  worship, 
government,  and  discipline  of  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  church  as  the  Old  was  for  the  Old  Testa¬ 
ment  church.” 

5.  While  claiming  for  themselves  the  New 
Testament  names  of  “Christians,”  or  “Dis¬ 
ciples,”  “they  do  not  deny  that  others  are 
Christians  or  that  other  churches  are  Churches 
of  Christ.” 


256 


THE  STANDARDS  OF  DOCTRINE  IN  THE  PRESBY¬ 
TERIAN  CHURCH 

The  standards  of  doctrine  of  the  Presbv- 
terian  Churcli  in  the  United  States  of  America 
are  the  Westminster  Confession  of  Faith  and 
the  Larger  and  Shorter  Catechisms.  These 
were  first  adopted  in  1729.  In  1788  certain 
amendments  to  the  Confession  and  Larger 
Catechism  were  approved  by  the  General 
Synod,  giving  expression  to  the  American 
doctrine  of  the  independence  of  the  church 
and  of  religious  opinion  from  control  by  the 
state.  In  1886  the  clause  forbidding  marriage 
with  a  deceased  wife’s  sister  was  stricken  out, 
and  in  1902  certain  alterations  were  again 
made,  and  there  were  added  two  chapters, 
"Of  the  Holy  Spirit,”  and  “Of  the  Love  of 
God  and  Missions.”  A  declaratory  statement 
was  also  adopted  setting  forth  the  universality 
of  the  gospel  offer  of  salvation,  declaring  that 
sinners  are  condemned  only  on  the  ground  of 
their  sin,  and  affirming  that  all  persons  dying 
in  infancy  are  elect  and  therefore  saved.  As 
a  whole,  these  standards  are  distinctly  Calvin- 
istic.  They  emphasize  the  sovereignty  of  God 
in  Christ  in  the  salvation  of  the  individual; 
affirm  that  each  believer’s  salvation  is  a  part 
of  the  eternal  divine  plan;  that  salvation  is  not 


257 


a  reward  for  faith,  but  that  both  faith  and  sal¬ 
vation  are  gifts  of  God;  that  man  is  utterly 
unable  to  save  himself;  that  regeneration  is  an 
act  of  God  and  of  God  alone ;  and  that  he  who 
is  once  actually  saved  is  always  saved. 

Discipline  is  defined  in  the  book  of  discip¬ 
line  as  “the  exercise  of  that  authority,  and  the 
application  of  that  system  of  laws,  which  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  appointed  in  His 
church.”  In  practice  it  is  controlled  by  a 
policy  of  guidance  and  regulation,  rather  than 
one  of  restriction  and  punishment.  Christian 
liberty  is  regarded  as  consistent  with  the  wise 
administration  of  Christian  law. 

The  Directory  for  Worship  makes  no  re¬ 
striction  as  to  place  or  form.  The  church 
insists  upon  the  supreme  importance  of  the 
spiritual  element,  and  leaves  both  ministers 
and  people  at  full  liberty  to  worship  God  in 
accordance  with  the  dictates  of  their  own  con¬ 
sciences.  The  sacraments  are  administered 
by  ministers  only,  and  ordinarily  only  min¬ 
isters  and  licentiates  are  authorized  to  teach 
officially.  A  book  of  common  worship  was 
approved  by  the  General  Assembly  in  1906 
for  optional  use  by  pastors  and  congregations. 


258 


A  DOCTRINAL  STATEMENT  OF  THE  METHODIST 

EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

In  theology  the  Methodist  Churches  are 

Arminian  and  their  doctrines  are  set  forth  in 

the  articles  of  Religion  formulated  largely 

from  the  thirty-nine  articles  of  the  Church  of 

%/ 

England,  Wesley’s  published  sermons  and  his 
Notes  on  the  New  Testament.  These  empha¬ 
size  belief  in  the  Trinity,  the  fall  of  man,  his 
need  of  repentance,  freedom  of  the  will,  sanc¬ 
tification,  future  rewards  and  punishments, 
and  a  sufficiency  of  the  Scriptures  for  Salva¬ 
tion. 

Two  sacraments  are  recognized — Baptism 
and  the  Lord’s  Supper.  Baptism  is  admin¬ 
istered  both  to  infants  and  adults.  As  to 
mode,  sprinkling  is  preferred,  though  in  the 
case  of  adults  choice  of  sprinkling,  pouring  or 
immersion  is  given. 

THE  DOCTRINES  AND  CREED  OF  THE  PROTESTANT 

EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

The  doctrinal  symbol  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  so  far  as  the  laity  is  con¬ 
cerned,  is  the  Apostles’  Creed.  The  Thirty- 
Nine  Articles  of  the  Church  of  England  are, 
with  some  modifications,  printed  at  the  end  of 


259 


the  American  Prayer  Book,  but  subscription 
to  them  is  not  required.  The  Church,  expects 
of  her  members  loyalty  to  her  doctrine,  dis¬ 
cipline  and  worship,  but  allows  considerable 
latitude  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Creeds. 
She  recognizes  all  lawfully  baptized  into  the 
name  of  the  Holy  Trinity  as  members  of  the 
Church,  and  requires  that  all  who  have  been 
baptized  shall  be  brought  to  the  bishop  for 
confirmation  after  they  have  been  adequately 
instructed  in  the  Catechism.  By  a  strict  inter¬ 
pretation  of  an  ancient  rubric  only  those  who 
have  been  confirmed  can  come  to  the  Holy 
Communion,  but  a  more  liberal  view  prevails 
in  practice.  Two  Sacraments  only  are  recog¬ 
nized — Baptism  and  the  Supper  of  our  Lord. 

The  Episcopal  Church  recognizes  three 
orders  in  the  ministry- — Bishops,  Priests  and 
Deacons.  Deacons  must  have  reached  the  age 
of  twenty-one.  They  can  not  administer  the 
Holy  Communion  and  their  special  duty  is  to 
care  for  the  sick  and  poor  of  the  parish  and 
preach  only  when  licensed  by  the  bishop.  No 
one  can  be  ordained  priest  until  he  has  been 
one  year  a  deacon  and  is  twenty-four  years 
old.  Both  deacons  and  priests  are  required 
before  ordination  to  sign  the  following  decla¬ 
ration  : 


260 


“I  do  believe  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  the  Word  of 
God,  and  to  contain  all  things  necessary  to  sal¬ 
vation;  and  I  do  solemnly  engage  to  conform 
to  the  doctrine,  discipline  and  worship  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United 
States  of  America.” 

WHAT  LUTHERANS  BELIEVE 

The  Lutherans  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada  accept  the  Canonical  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  as  the  inspired 
Word  of  God  and  as  the  only  infallible  rule 
and  standard  of  faith  and  practice.  They  ac¬ 
cept  and  confess  the  three  ecumenical  creeds: 
namely,  the  Apostles,  the  Nicene,  and  the 
Athanasian.  They  accept  and  hold  the  un¬ 
altered  Augsburg  Confession  as  the  correct 
exhibition  of  the  faith  and  doctrine  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church,  founded  upon 
the  Word  of  God.  None  reject  any  of  the 
other  Symbolical  Books  of  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church,  namely,  the  Apology  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession,  the  Smalcald  Articles, 
the  Large  and  Small  Catechisms  of  Luther, 
and  the  Formula  of  Concord.  Many  accept 
all  of  these.  All  accept  and  use  Luther’s 
Small  Catechism. 


261 


THE  DOCTRINAL  STATEMENT  OF  THE  UNITED 

BRETHREN  CHURCH 

In  doctrine  the  church  holds  to  the  Trinity 
the  Deity  and  humanity  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
an  atonement  unlimited  as  to  the  possibility 
of  its  application.  Upon  repentance,  faith 
appropriates  the  benefits  of  the  atonement  to 
the  salvation  of  the  soul,  and  in  this  salvation 
the  soul  is  spiritually  baptized  into  Christ, 
and  becomes  a  new  creature — i.  e.,  is  born 
again — the  doctrine  upon  which  the  early  life 
of  the  church  was  based.  A  spiritually  di¬ 
rected  life  is  held  to  be  a  necessity  to  the  main¬ 
tenance  of  the  regenerate  state,  and  the  ordi¬ 
nances  of  baptism  and  the  Lord’s  Supper  are 
to  be  observed  by  all  of  God’s  spiritual  chil¬ 
dren,  by  each  in  the  manner  which  he  deems 
scripturally  correct.  On  moral  questions  the 
church  holds  to  the  strict  interpretation  of  the 
early  laws  on  temperance,  connection  with 
secret  combinations,  and  participation  in 
aggressive  warfare. 

THE  DOCTRINAL  POSITION  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 

CHURCH 

The  Christian  and  Missionary  Alliance  is 
strictly  evangelistic  in  its  doctrine.  It  stands 
firmly  for  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures, 


262 


the  atonement  of  Christ,  the  supernaturalism 
of  religious  experience,  and  a  life  of  separation 
and  practical  holiness.  It  has  no  strict  creed, 
but  expresses  the  great  essential  features  of 
its  testimony  in  a  simple  formula  known  as 
the  fourfold  gospel  of  Christ,  as  Savior,  Sanc¬ 
tifier,  Healer  and  Coming  Lord.  It  is  not  a 
sectarian  body,  but  allows  liberty  in  the  matter 
of  baptism  and  church  government,  and  is  in 
fraternal  union  with  evangelical  Christians  of 
all  denominations,  accepting  missionaries  from 
the  various  churches,  provided  they  are  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  evangelical  standards  of 
the  Alliance. 


NOTE — The  other  denominations  not  represented  in  this 
group  are  for  the  most  part  outgrowths  of  these  larger 
churches  and  in  t lie  main,  their  doctrinal  beliefs  or  creeds 
accord  with  them. 


263 


THE  MATERIAL  FROM  WHICH  A 
WORLD  CHURCH  COULD  BE 

FORMED 


FOLLOWING  IS  A  FAIRLY  ACCURATE  LIST  OF 
THE  DENOMINATIONS  AND  CHURCHES 
REPRESENTING  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES.  IT  WILL  ALSO  INDI¬ 
CATE  THE  VARIOUS  PARTS  INTO  WHICH 
THE  SPIRITUAL  BODY  OF  CHRIST  HAS 
BEEN  DIVIDED. 


EVANGELICAL  SYNOD  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 

CHURCH  OF  GOD  (NEW  DUNKARDS) 

BRETHREN  CHURCH  (PROGRESSIVE 

DUNKARDS) 

CHURCH  OF  THE  UNIVERSAL  MESSIANIC 

MESSAGE 

CHURCH  OF  THE  NAZARENE 

THE  HOLINESS  CHURCH 

EVANGELICAL  PROTESTANT  CHURCH  OF 
NORTH  AMERICA 

EVANGELICAL  UNION  OF  BOHEMIAN  AND 
MORAVIAN  BRETHREN  OF  NORTH 

AMERICA 

INDEPENDENT  BOHEMIAN  AND  MORAVIAN 
BRETHREN  CHURCHES 

CHRISTIAN  CHURCH  (AMERICAN  CHRISTIAN 

CONVENTION) 

GENERAL  CHURCH  OF  THE  NEW  JERUSALEM 


267 


MENNONITE  BRETHREN  CHURCH  OF  NORTH 

AMERICA 


REFORMED  MENNONITE  CHURCH 

INTERNATIONAL  HOLINESS  CHURCH 

REORGANIZED  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST 
OF  LATTER  DAY  SAINTS 

MORAVIAN  CHURCH  (United  Fratrum) 

EASTERN  ORTHODOX  CHURCHES 

SOCIETY  OF  FRIENDS  (Hicksite) 

RUSSIAN  ORTHODOX  CHURCH 

SERBIAN  ORTHODOX  CHURCH 

GREEK  ORTHODOX  CHURCH 

CHURCHES  OF  GOD  IN  NORTH  AMERICA 

GENERAL  ELDERSHIP  OF  THE 
NEW  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH  OF  NORTH 

AMERICA 

CHURCH  OF  GOD  AS  ORGANIZED  BY  CHRIST 

FREE  CHRISTIAN  ZION  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST 

(Colored) 

ROUMANIAN  ORTHODOX  CHURCH 

CHURCH  OF  THE  LIVING  GOD,  GENERAL 

ASSEMBLY 

CHURCH  OF  GOD,  ADVENTIST 

SYRIAN  HOLY  ORTHODOX  GREEK  CATHOLIC 
MISSION  IN  NORTH  AMERICA 


268 


CHURCHES  OF  THE  NEW  JERUSALEM 
(SWEDENBORGIAN) 

METROPOLITAN  CHURCH  ASSOCIATION 
KRIMMER  MENNONITE  BRETHREN  CHURCH 
THE  UNITED  SOCIETY  OF  BELIEVERS 
LATTER  DAY  SAINTS 

CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST  OF  LATTER  DAY 

SAINTS 

CHRISTIAN  AND  MISSIONARY  ALLIANCE 

CHRISTIAN  CONGREGATION 

CHRISTIAN  ADELPHIANS 

EVANGELICAL  ASSOCIATION 

CHURCH  OF  THE  LIVING  GOD 

ALBANIAN  ORTHODOX  CHURCH 

CHURCHES  OF  CHRIST 

BULGARIAN  ORTHODOX  CHURCH 

BRETHREN,  PLYMOUTH 

OLD  ORDER,  OR  YORKER,  BRETHREN 

CATHOLIC  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH 

BRETHREN  IN  CHRIST  OF  U.  S.  A.  AND 

CANADA 

MENNONITE  CHURCH 
UNITED  ZION’S  CHILDREN 
DISCIPLES  OF  CHRIST 


APOSTOLIC  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 


INDEPENDENT  CHURCHES 

SOUTHERN  BAPTIST  CONVENTION 

PRIMITIVE  BAPTISTS  (PROGRESSIVE) 

BRETHREN  (GERMAN  -  AMERICAN  BAPTIST 
DUNKERS)  CHURCH  OF  THE  BRETHREN 

SEPARATE  BAPTISTS 

NORTHERN  BAPTIST  CONVENTION 

BAPTISTS  (COLORED) —  NATIONAL  BAPTIST 

CONVENTION 

TWO-SEE-IN-THE-SPIRIT  PREDESTINARIAN 

BAPTISTS 

OLD  ORDER  GERMAN  BAPTIST  BRETHREN 
SEVENTH  DAY  BAPTISTS 
FREE  WILL  BAPTISTS  (BULLOCKITES) 
PRIMITIVE  BAPTISTS 
FREE  WILL  BAPTISTS 
COLORED  FREE  WILL  BAPTISTS 
SIX  PRINCIPLE  BAPTISTS 
FREE  BAPTISTS 
UNITED  BAPTISTS 
GENERAL  BAPTISTS 
REGULAR  BAPTISTS 


270 


GERMAN  SEVENTH-DAY  BAPTISTS 

CHURCHES  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST, 

ADVENTIST 

PENTECOSTAL  HOLINESS  CHURCH 

SOCIETY  OF  FRIENDS  (Orthodox) 

BRETHREN,  RIVER 

APOSTOLIC  FAITH  MOVEMENT 

POLISH  NATIONAL  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

ARMENIAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA 

ASSYRIAN  JOCABITE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH 

ADVENT  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH 

BAHAI  MOVEMENT 

AMERICAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCHES 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

AFRICAN  UNION  METHODIST  PROTESTANT 

CHURCH 

AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

METHODIST  PROTESTANT  CHURCH 

COLORED  METHODIST  PROTESTANT 

CHURCH 

UNION  AMERICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 

CHURCH 

CONGREGATIONAL  METHODIST  CHURCH 


271 


PRIMITIVE  METHODIST  CHURCH 

AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  ZION 

CHURCH 

WESLEYAN  METHODIST  CONNECTION  OF 

AMERICA 

COLORED  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 
SEVENTH  DAY  ADVENTISTS 
ASSEMBLIES  OF  GOD 

CHURCH  OF  GOD  AND  SAINTS  OF  CHRIST 

HUTTERIAN  BRETHREN 

ROMAN  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA 

REFORMED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 
GENERAL  SYNOD 

ALLIANCE  OF  REFORMED  CHURCHES 
THROUGHOUT  THE  WORLD  HOLDING 
PRESBYTERIAN  SYSTEM 

UNITED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

REFORMED  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

(Old  School) 

COLORED  CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN 

CHURCH 

CUMBERLAND  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 

PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES  (South) 


272 


WELSH  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH 
(Calvinistic  Methodist) 

PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

REFORMED  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

REFORMED  CHURCH  IN  THE  UNITED 

STATES 

REFORMED  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA 

SWEDISH  EVANGELISTIC  MISSION 
COVENANT 

THE  SALVATION  ARMY 

THE  UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN 

AMERICA 

LUTHERAN  FREE  CHURCH 

NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH 

DANISH  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  CHURCH 

IN  AMERICA 

UNIVERSALIST  CHURCHES 

CHURCH  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN  IN 
CHRIST  (Old  Constitution) 

NORWEGIAN  SYNOD  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL 
LUTHERAN  CHURCH 

LITHUANIAN  NATIONAL  CATHOLIC  CHURCH 
THE  VOLUNTEERS  OF  AMERICA 
UNITED  EVANGELICAL  CHURCH 
CHURCH  OF  DANIEL’S  BAND 


273 


EPILOGUE 


As  the  author  was  thinking  of  a  fitting  word 
with  which  to  sum  up  what  he  has  been  trying 
to  say  in  the  preceding  pages,  his  eyes  fell 
upon  a  reported  sermon  by  Joseph  Fort  New¬ 
ton,  D.  D.,  whose  City  Temple  sermons  and 
other  writings  have  given  him  deserved  and 
extended  fame.  In  his  address  entitled  “THE 
WILL  TO  FELLOWSHIP,”  based  upon 
the  words  “That  they  all  may  be  one,  that  the 
world  may  know  that  thou  hast  sent  me,”  he 
says,  these  are  tender  but  tremendous  words. 
Jesus  makes  the  proof  of  his  person  and  gospel 
depend  upon  the  unity  and  fraternity  of  His 
followers — until  those  who  love  Him  and  love 
one  another  well  enough  to  live  together  in  the 
spirit  of  His  life — our  religion  awaits  its  final 
apologetic. 

“The  proof  of  Christianity  is  not  in  learn¬ 
ing,  but  in  living.”  “If  Christianity  can  not 
realize  the  will  of  loving  fellowship  in  its  own 
life,  it  will  be  impotent.” 

The  mystics  have  been  the  salt  of  the  earth 
and  the  light  of  the  world.  Keepers  of  a  holy 
fire,  guardians  of  a  sacred  treasure — it  is  in 
their  gentle  lives,  silhouetted  against  a  dark 


27.5 


background,  that  we  trace  the  history  of  the 
Hidden  Church: 

From  heart  to  heart,  from  creed  to  creed, 

The  hidden  river  runs. 

“Faced  by  issues  such  as  confront  us  to-day, 
the  old  sectarianism  is  not  only  inadequate,  but 
absurd.” 

George  Eliot  said,  “What  we  believe  divides 
us,  whom  we  believe  unites  us.”  “The 
worship  of  opinion  is  not  the  worship  of  God.” 
“What  we  want  is  not  uniformity  but  fellow¬ 
ship.”  “Not  to  legislate,  but  to  learn  the  mind 
of  Christ.” 

Such  men  as  Dr.  Newton  are  more  than 
preachers,  they  are  prophets  of  a  new  age; 
they  are  familiar  with  the  “hidden  forces,” 
which,  after  all,  are  the  intrinsic  values  of  all 
time,  and  are  never  actually  lost,  but  reap¬ 
pear  from  age  to  age  to  rebuild  the  waste 
places  of  civilization  and  to  reassure  the  world 
that  there  is  no  lost  cause  in  the  realm  of  the 
“spiritual.” 

What  a  united  CHRISTENDOM  could 
do  for  the  world  and  what  the  world  would  be 
willing  to  contribute  to  the  final  glory  of  a 
UNITED  CHRISTENDOM  will  not  be 
known  until  the  all-but-spent  forces  of  sec¬ 
tarianism  and  discord  are  willing  to  accept  the 
MIND  OF  CHRIST  and  do  the  WILL  OF 
GOD. 


Princeton 


leoloqical  Seminary  Libraries 


012  01245  2969 


s 


\Sv'^\y;v 


